Purpose This paper aims to propose an integrated framework combining the cost-reduction rationale and the institution-leveraging rationale to explain how institutional distance, both formal and informal, influences emerging multinational enterprises (EMNEs)’ foreign direct investment (FDI)...

Unlike multinational enterprises from developed economies (DE MNEs), MNEs from emerging economies (EE MNEs) commonly do not have absolute ownership advantage in management, technology, and know-how. Yet some of them have recently undertaken aggressive cross-border mergers and acquisitions...