We analyze how firms in underdeveloped countries overcome human capital voids – a prevalence of very low levels of skills among individuals – to improve performance. Building on the knowledge-based view, we argue that managers can strategically select organizational upgrading mechanisms to...

As consumers spend more time on their mobile devices, a focal retailer's natural approach is to target potential customers in close proximity to its own location. Yet focal (own) location targeting may cannibalize profits on inframarginal sales. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of...

To take advantage of low-cost talented labors and gain innovation capabilities, more and more global clients started to outsource professional service processes offshore to emerging markets. The service value chain breakdown in the outsourcing and intensive tacit knowledge involved in...

As emerging markets increasingly play important roles in outsourcing, we focus on the complex relationships in the professional service outsourcing environment. Building on information processing and contingency theories, this paper contributes to the much-needed efforts in the study of...

This study investigates how the PSO firm’s external knowledge integration with global clients, internal integration across various functional units, and the synergistic effects between them in improving PSO performance. The antecedents of these two types of integration are also explored....

As emerging markets increasingly play important roles in outsourcing, we focus on the complex relationships in the professional service outsourcing environment. Building on information processing and contingency theories, this paper contributes to the much-needed efforts in the study of...

Guanxi or interpersonal relationships is one of the major dynamics of Chinese society. A pervasive part of the Chinese business world for the last few centuries, it binds literally millions of Chinese firms into a social and business web. Any business in this society, including local firms and...

We develop a mediation model in which the number of partners in a joint venture affects venture performance through contract completeness and partner cooperation. In a sample of 224 international joint ventures, we find that the number of partners is negatively related to venture contract...

We analyze how a firm's home country influences its internationalization. We propose two complementary types of influence. First, we conceptualize a firm's international trade as shaped by four drivers: comparative advantage, comparative disadvantage, country-of-origin advantage, and...

Unlike free-standing companies, joint ventures involve more complex governance structures and organizational systems. Because of interpartner dependence in the managerial process, it is more difficult for joint ventures to configure their strategies with environmental dynamics. Without such...