IM
STR
Gianni De Bruyn
Darla Moore School of Business, U. of South Carolina, United States
Bo Yang
U. of Southern California, United States
Joseph Park
Sogang U.
Grazia Santangelo
Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
Minyuan Zhao
Washington U. in St. Louis, Olin Business School, United States
Jane Lu
City U. of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Zhibo QIU
Oxford U., Saïd Business School, United Kingdom
Over the past decade, we have witnessed an increasing trend in deglobalization (Witt, 2019), a reversal of open market policies (Cuervo-Cazurra, Gaur, & Singh, 2019), the emergence of techno-nationalism (Luo & Van Assche, 2023), and the breakdown of bilateral relations between countries (Bureau of Industry and Security, 2023; The White House, 2021). Deteriorations in bilateral relationships often trigger operational challenges for multinational enterprises (MNEs) originating from the associated home country and operating in the respective host country (Li, Arikan, Shenkar, & Arikan, 2020). Specifically, these geopolitical tensions can cause negative externalities increasing the difficulties and costs for foreign firms to operate in the host country, thereby affecting their strategic decision-making processes (Bertrand, Betschinger, & Settles, 2016; Li, Van Assche, Li, & Qian, 2022). Given the escalating significance of geopolitical factors, it becomes critical to study the strategies employed by MNEs in addressing such tensions. The extant literature offers several useful perspectives that shed light on this phenomenon. For example, it has been well established that institutional (including historical, political, and cultural) factors might affect a wide range of MNE strategies such as ownership structure (Makino & Tsang, 2011; Wang & Li, 2019; Lu, Ma, & Xie, 2022), entry mode strategies (Henisz, 2000; Holburn & Zelner, 2010; Wang, Wei, & Zhao, 2022), and divestment decisions (Blake & Moschieri, 2017). However, these “macro” factors are deeply rooted in formal or informal institutions, rendering them relatively stable. As a result, the insights generated by focusing on these factors may not allow us to fully uncover the dynamics under the recent geopolitical tensions, which are more volatile. Recent studies have begun to investigate how the more volatile intercountry relations affect MNE performance and strategies such as acquisition successes (Bilgili et al., 2023). This symposium advances the burgeoning research interest on this topic by presenting a cohesive collection of papers that examine comprehensively the role of geopolitical tensions in a variety of strategies, adopting a multi-level perspective. Specifically, it investigates some of the most important market strategies (i.e., intellectual property protection, portfolio strategy) that are key to firm performance (Papers 1 & 2). Moreover, it explores the understudied nonmarket strategies employed by MNEs to target the home or host country, addressing their exposure to geopolitical tensions (Papers 3 & 4). These firm-level analyses are also complemented by a micro-level study (Paper 5) that adopts a microfoundational approach and explores the cognitive processes in intercountry relations.
Author: Joseph Park – Sogang U.
Author: Grazia D. Santangelo – Copenhagen Business School
Author: Minyuan Zhao – Washington U. in St. Louis, Olin Business School
Author: Gianni De Bruyn – Darla Moore School of Business, U. of South Carolina
Author: Jane Lu – City U. of Hong Kong
Author: Bo Yang – U. of Southern California
Author: Zhibo QIU – Oxford U., Saïd Business School