Recombining national variety: internationalisation strategies of American and European law firms

Purpose – This paper aims to explore internationalisation strategies of service firms in sectors where markets become increasingly globalised while resource environments still remain distinctively shaped by national institutions. Design/methodology/approach – A theoretical framework is proposed that suggests that the more firms expand their business activities across borders by building up offices abroad or merging with firms from other countries, the more likely they are to embrace recombinant strategies to blend elements of different societal legacies. Subsequently, a comparative case study of internationalisation strategies, governance modes and organisational forms of European and US law firms is presented to illustrate the value of the framework, followed by the analysis of a novel data set on multi‐jurisdictional qualifications of partners in these international law firms. Findings – By virtue of their integrative organisational model and mobilisation of versatile legal competences, large pan‐European law firms are challenging the dominance of US law firms in international legal markets, while the latter in response are revising their own previous export‐oriented internationalisation strategy. Research limitations/implications – The present study provides a starting point for further research on internationalisation in service industries. Originality/value – The framework is useful to expand effect societal analysis to dynamic international environments.