International Business and FDI

When a firm crosses a national border to own or control operations abroad, it enters a web of unfamiliar institutions—legal systems, regulatory norms, cultural expectations—that shape whether that investment succeeds or fails. Research at the intersection of international business and foreign direct investment examines how multinational firms choose where and how to expand, how the institutional environment of a host or home country alters those choices, and how firms from emerging markets pursue internationalization along paths that often diverge from the experience of established Western multinationals. A central tension in current work concerns whether institution-based advantages that propel firms outward from places like China, India, or Brazil translate into durable competitive positions globally, or whether they erode once those firms compete outside their home contexts. Scholars are also pressing on how cross-border investment interacts with innovation and entrepreneurship—asking not just where capital flows, but whether and under what conditions it carries knowledge, organizational practices, and growth opportunities with it.

Works

115,769

Total citations

1,436,673

Keywords

Foreign Direct InvestmentInstitutional EnvironmentInternationalization ProcessEmerging Market EnterprisesMultinational FirmsInnovation and Entrepreneurship