The ‘rivalry’ between India and China on the global stage is much ado about nothing. India and China both have huge potential to play a bigger role in global business than they do today. Both countries have experienced major growth domestically, which is not yet matched by their role in global business. MNEs from the two countries have been internationalizing along very different pathways, with few overlaps. Their ability to realize their potential depends on policies and institutions as well as entrepreneurial business leadership in their own country. Their future internationalization depends only to a small degree on the other of the two countries

This article takes group subsidiaries that were listed in the A-share market of Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges in China from 2012 to 2017 as the research subject and innovatively explores the impact of subsidiary TMT (top management team) attention at different networks on subsidiary innovation, considering dual network embedding characteristics and autonomy of subsidiaries. Results show that subsidiary TMT group network attention will inhibit subsidiary innovation, while their external network attention will promote subsidiary innovation, after the inclusion of industry category factors, the effect has changed accordingly, but the moderating effect of subsidiary autonomy on the relationship between subsidiary TMT attention on different networks and subsidiary innovation is always significant. The identification of subsidiary TMT attention not only supplements to current literature's narrow focus on impact of the group parent company attention on subsidiary behaviors, but also broadens theoretical understanding of the driving factors of innovation behavior of subsidiaries. Through expounding on the moderating role of subsidiary autonomy, this article clarifies boundary conditions of subsidiary TMT attention's impact on subsidiary innovation and provides operable guidance for subsidiary TMT to allocate and utilize their attention to promote the development of subsidiary innovation behaviors.

Building on recent developments in optimal distinctiveness (OD) research, we identify two dimensions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices – CSR scope conformity and CSR emphasis differentiation – and examine the antecedents of both. We theorize that private ownership and enhanced media coverage may increase scope conformity and emphasis differentiation, while such effects may be contingent on industrial context. In socially contested industries, the impact of private ownership on scope conformity will be mitigated, and the impact of media coverage on scope conformity will be amplified. Meanwhile, in highly competitive industries, the impact of private ownership and media coverage on emphasis differentiation will be mitigated. We test our predictions using a database of 942 Chinese publicly listed firms between 2008 and 2016. Our findings imply that the choice of optimal CSR strategy has to be made in accordance with the embedding context. The multidimensionality view of OD enables firms to better orchestrate firms’ strategic positioning along different dimensions of complex practices, which leads to better customization of societal expectations and the industrial competitive landscape.

The increasing FDI in Africa from China and India in recent years has drawn the attention of scholars, policy makers, and the media. Africa is an arena where the two emerging giants compete on different bases. Indian firms have the advantage of institutional proximity and large diaspora communities in Africa, while Chinese firms rely on government-to-government relationship-building. The rivalry between India's soft power and Chinese hard power in Africa will continue for the foreseeable future.

The changing geopolitical landscapes and increased migration flow across the world call for a fresh perspective on the sociocultural and economic integration of migrants in their new ‘homes’ and ‘communities’. In this qualitative process study, we provide insight into the identity work dynamics that underlie interfirm cooperation in the new business context. We see a sample of Bulgarian migrant entrepreneurs as knowledge boundary spanners who employ identity work tactics for the development of shared norms and values that facilitate knowledge exchange between their home culture and the UK host culture context. This study suggests that knowledge boundary spanning is enabled by a temporal identity work process, characterized by a series of inward and outward identity work tactics. The interplay between inward and outward identity work tactics occurs over phases of identifying identity differences, adopting identity cues, and finally, realizing hybrid identity. This article contributes to the identity work and migrant entrepreneurship literature by exploring the underlying mechanisms for realizing knowledge boundary spanning by migrant entrepreneurs.

Ahsan, Sinha, and Srinivasan (2020) studied the motives of knowledge-intensive Indian firms’ international expansion based on resource-based considerations and the locational advantages offered by host countries. They identified firm characteristics associated with strategic asset-seeking, opportunity-seeking, and market-seeking motives. In this replication study, we examine Ahsan et al.'s (2020) model in the Chinese context. Based on our improved empirical model, our findings reveal some similarities but more importantly some key differences in the antecedents of internationalization motives between Indian and Chinese firms. Drawing on insights from prior studies, we propose that these differences can be attributed to differences in absorptive capacity, international expansion scales and patterns, ownership type, and the home institutional contexts in which Indian and Chinese firms operate. Overall, this replication study demonstrates the importance of contextualizing international business research.

Organizations largely depend on their employees’ creativity to attain a competitive advantage. Drawing on Ability-Motivation-Opportunity (AMO) theory, this study examines whether employees’ voice behavior (promotive and prohibitive) can be harnessed to improve their creative performance. By exploring the mediating role of psychosocial prosperity and moderating effects of employees’ perception of their influence at work and their feelings of alienation, this study offers a unique model that enhances the literature on voice and creativity. Data collected from 285 Information Technology professionals in India reveals that both forms of voice lead to creative performance, and psychosocial prosperity mediates this positive relationship. This finding offers different insight for scholars as much of the voice literature expects prohibitive voice to yield negative results for the employee because of its associated risks. Also, employees’ perceived influence at work strengthens the positive effect of promotive voice on psychosocial prosperity, while alienation weakens the relationship between psychosocial prosperity and creativity performance. The study concludes by discussing the implications, limitations, and directions for future researchers.

Built upon configuration theory, this study performs a Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) to delineate alternative and sufficient configurations of local knowledge spillover (LKS) channels, that is, how informal interactions and spinoff, and absorptive capacity are combined to facilitate service innovation. Primary data was collected from the largest software outsourcing cluster in Vietnam in 2018, which provides a sample size of 42 firms. The findings imply that multiple configurations of different channels of LKS in conjunction with absorptive capacity can lead to service innovation. This study makes three important contributions. First, it contributes to the debate over the critical role of LKS and absorptive capacity in innovation by offering a more holistic, yet nuanced understanding of the causal mechanisms underlying service innovation. Second, this study sheds light on viable and equifinal pathways for enhancing innovation capabilities, therefore contributing to the literature on cluster upgrading and global service sourcing. Third, it provides some managerial implications for indigenous spinoff firms in developing countries seeking to innovate through the strategic use of LKS.

While the construct of moqi (默契, pronounced ‘mò-chee’) is ubiquitously understood and finds itself in everyday conversations around the home and workplace in China, the theoretical development of moqi has been scarce. In this article, we expand on prior work on moqi and conceptualize moqi as a dyadic level construct that describes a situated state of shared contextualized understanding without saying a word between two counterparties. We further articulate a broader view of moqi as a dyadic communication construct that is both target-specific and situation-specific. We propose a nomological network of moqi that shows how shared contextualized understandings between counterparties are informed by several different layers, including ‘capability’ (a) a generalized proclivity to be able to form such understandings with others, and ‘contributing factors’, (b) how those understandings are formed either (i) through interactions or (ii) without them through overlaps in background characteristics or experiences, and (c) how other factors accentuate the capability and inclination to ultimately achieve moqi. We then discuss several potential consequences of moqi in organizational settings. Finally, we discuss why moqi is a powerful form of effective communication that is meaningful beyond the Chinese cultural context.

The measurement and communication of the effect size of an independent variable on a dependent variable is critical to effective statistical analysis in the Social Sciences. We develop ideas about how to extend traditional methods of evaluating relationships in multivariate models to explain and illustrate the statistical power of a focal independent variable. Even with a growing acceptance of the need to report effect sizes, scholars in the management community have few well-established protocols or guidelines for reporting effect sizes. In this editorial essay, we: (1) review the necessity of reporting effect sizes; (2) discuss commonly used measures of effect size and accepted cut-offs for large, medium, and small effect sizes; (3) recommend standards for reporting effect sizes via verbal descriptions and graphical presentations; and (4) present best practice examples of reporting and discussing effect size. In summary, we provide guidance for authors on how to report and interpret effect sizes, advocating for rigor and completeness in statistical analysis.

Past studies have shown that the flow of knowledge from incumbent firms is associated with the creation of startups and their subsequent performance. While much research has focused on the mechanisms of how incumbent-to-startup knowledge transfer takes place, such as entrepreneurs pursuing opportunities that their previous employers do not want to pursue, we explore with detailed qualitative analysis of six private startups in the Chinese synthetic-dye industry what type of knowledge actually flows and what type is more important for the long-term success of startups. We discover eight types of knowledge that flow from incumbents to new firms during the foundation of startups. Abstracting these eight types of knowledge into two general categories of functional knowledge and strategic knowledge, we find the reception of strategic (not functional) knowledge shapes the long-term competitiveness of surviving startups. Receiving technical knowledge – one type of functional knowledge – during the founding period is necessary for startups’ short-term survival but insufficient for long-term success. Our findings show that the performance implications of initial knowledge flows from incumbents hinge on the type of knowledge, contributing to a more explicit explanation of how incumbent-to-startup knowledge flows affect entrepreneurial performance.

Although state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are recognized as important economic actors, the literature to date has assumed close state control over SOEs and, therefore, their passive stance towards institutions. Drawing on the institutional work and historical institutionalism literatures, we challenge this view. We develop a multilevel framework of SOE top management teams’ (TMTs’) embedded agency, spanning the national macro-institutional level, the meso-level of regimes of state-SOE relations, and sector-specific institutions. We then derive propositions regarding the factors across these multiple levels that shape SOE TMTs’ motivation, resources, and scope for institutional work. This framework allows us to explain the leeway for and likelihood of SOE TMTs’ engagement in institutional work across institutional contexts.