IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/manint/v48y2008i4d10.1007_s11575-008-0023-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A new perspective on the regional and global strategies of multinational services firms

Author

Listed:
  • Alan M. Rugman

    (Indiana University)

  • Alain Verbeke

    (University of Calgary
    Erasmus University Rotterdam
    Vrije Universiteit Brussel)

Abstract

Abstract and Key Results We explore the differences in international strategy between multinational enterprises (MNEs) in services and manufacturing, especially in terms of their international diversification, as measured by their sales and asset dispersion. Our longitudinal data show that the largest MNEs in services have a much stronger home-region orientation than manufacturing MNEs. Large MNEs in the services sector average 83.9 percent of their sales in their home region, which is significantly higher than large manufacturing firms at 65.6 percent. We explore the possible reasons for the relative lack of globalization of services firms. The two main reasons are: the difficulty of adapting separately upstream activities and downstream activities in high distance host environments, and the difficulty of selecting activity locations as a function of supply side criteria. We offer a refinement of regional strategy theory applicable to services MNEs.

Suggested Citation

  • Alan M. Rugman & Alain Verbeke, 2008. "A new perspective on the regional and global strategies of multinational services firms," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 397-411, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:manint:v:48:y:2008:i:4:d:10.1007_s11575-008-0023-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s11575-008-0023-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11575-008-0023-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11575-008-0023-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alan M. Rugman & Alain Verbeke, 2005. "A Perspective on Regional and Global Strategies of Multinational Enterprises," Chapters, in: Analysis of Multinational Strategic Management, chapter 8, pages 104-119, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Cloninger, Peggy A., 2004. "The effect of service intangibility on revenue from foreign markets," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 125-146.
    3. Farok J Contractor & Sumit K Kundu & Chin-Chun Hsu, 2003. "A three-stage theory of international expansion: the link between multinationality and performance in the service sector," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 34(1), pages 5-18, January.
    4. Alan M Rugman & Alain Verbeke, 2007. "Liabilities of regional foreignness and the use of firm-level versus country-level data: a response to Dunning et al. (2007)," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 38(1), pages 200-205, January.
    5. Alan Rugman, 1987. "Multinationals and trade in services: A transaction cost approach," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 123(4), pages 651-667, December.
    6. Rugman,Alan M., 2005. "The Regional Multinationals," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521842655.
    7. J J Boddewyn & Marsha Baldwin Halbrich & A C Perry, 1986. "Service Multinationals: Conceptualization, Measurement and Theory," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 17(3), pages 41-57, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Biener, Christian & Eling, Martin & Jia, Ruo, 2017. "The structure of the global reinsurance market: An analysis of efficiency, scale, and scope," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 213-229.
    2. Alan M. Rugman & Chang Hoon Oh, 2011. "Multinational Enterprises and Regional Economic Integration: Rethinking Key Metrics in International Business," Chapters, in: Miroslav N. Jovanović (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Integration, Volume III, chapter 4, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Rugman, Alan M. & Oh, Chang Hoon, 2010. "Does the regional nature of multinationals affect the multinationality and performance relationship?," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 479-488, October.
    4. Lee, In Hyeock & Rugman, Alan M., 2012. "Firm-specific advantages, inward FDI origins, and performance of multinational enterprises," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 132-146.
    5. Yildirim, Canan & Kasman, Adnan & Gulamhussen, Mohamed Azzim, 2023. "Efficiency of multinational banks: Impacts of geographic and product loci," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(5).
    6. Borda, Armando & Geleilate, José-Mauricio G. & Newburry, William & Kundu, Sumit K., 2017. "Firm internationalization, business group diversification and firm performance: The case of Latin American firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 104-113.
    7. Alain Verbeke & Lei Li & Anthony Goerzen, 2009. "Toward More Effective Research on the Multinationality-Performance Relationship," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 149-161, April.
    8. Daniele Cerrato & Mariacristina Piva, 2015. "The Effect of Global Orientation on the Performance of International New Ventures: Evidence from Italy," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 55(6), pages 857-883, December.
    9. Sukpanich, Nessara & Rugman, Alan, 2007. "Intra-regional sales, product diversity, and the performance of merchandising multinationals," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 131-146, June.
    10. Lee, In Hyeock (Ian) & Hong, Eunsuk & Shin, Jong Kook, 2023. "Multinational enterprises, intra-regional cross-border M&As, and performance: Location advantages of market versus knowledge," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(6).
    11. Oh, Chang Hoon & Li, Jing, 2015. "Commentary: Alan Rugman and the theory of the regional multinationals," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 631-633.
    12. Fariborzi, Hadi & Osiyevskyy, Oleksiy & DaSilva, Carlos, 2022. "The effect of geographic scope on growth and growth variability of SMEs," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 57(5).
    13. Aguilera, Ruth V. & Flores, Ricardo G. & Vaaler, Paul M., 2007. "Is It All a Matter of Grouping? Examining the Regional Effect in Global Strategy Research," Working Papers 07-0106, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Business.
    14. Heechun Kim & Jie Wu & Douglas A. Schuler & Robert E. Hoskisson, 2020. "Chinese multinationals’ fast internationalization: Financial performance advantage in one region, disadvantage in another," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 51(7), pages 1076-1106, September.
    15. Contractor, Farok J. & Kumar, Vikas & Kundu, Sumit K., 2007. "Nature of the relationship between international expansion and performance: The case of emerging market firms," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 401-417, December.
    16. Quyen T. K. Nguyen, 2017. "Multinationality and Performance Literature: A Critical Review and Future Research Agenda," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 311-347, June.
    17. Meyer, Chris R. & Skaggs, Bruce C. & Nair, Sudhir & Cohen, David G., 2015. "Customer Interaction Uncertainty, Knowledge, and Service Firm Internationalization," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 249-259.
    18. Demirbag, Mehmet & Glaister, Keith W. & Sengupta, Abhijit, 2020. "Which regions matter for MNEs? The role of regional and firm level differences," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 55(1).
    19. Ilgaz Arikan & Asli M. Arikan & Oded Shenkar, 2022. "Revisiting emerging market multinational enterprise views: The Goldilocks story restated," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(4), pages 781-802, June.
    20. Ram Mudambi & Lee Li & Xufei Ma & Shige Makino & Gongming Qian & Ron Boschma, 2018. "Zoom in, zoom out: Geographic scale and multinational activity," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(8), pages 929-941, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:manint:v:48:y:2008:i:4:d:10.1007_s11575-008-0023-y. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.