Workshop（Dept. of Trade Economics）

Speaker: Liang Chen (Singapore Management University)

Time: 14:00 (Thursday), March 23, 2023

Venue: Room 1008, Mingde Business Building

Language：Chinese/English

SHORT BIOGRAPHY:

Liang Chen is Associate Professor of Strategic Management at Singapore Management University. His recent research on platform ecosystems and digital strategy appears in Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Management, Journal of International Business Studies, and Harvard Business Review. He also has lasting research interests in multinational firms, emerging markets, global strategy, corporate strategy, and the theory of the firm. Liang won the AOM IM Division Emerging Scholar Award, and was a finalist of the Alan M. Rugman Most Promising Scholar Award. He is Senior Editor of International Business Review and of Management and Organization Review, and Consulting Editor at Journal of International Management. He is a JIBS/JOM Editorial Board member, JIBS Best Reviewer, and JIBS guest editor.

Professor Liang Chen will discuss these papers.

Title 1: International Entry Modes in Chinese Family Firms: An Isomorphism Perspective

Speaker：Yuxin Wang (Ph.D. student, Department of Trade Economics, Renmin University of China)

Time：14:00—14:40, (Thursday), Mar 23, 2023

ABSTRACT：

Building on views of institutions and socioemotional wealth (SEW), this paper investigates how isomorphic processes influence family firms’ internationalization, and how government intervention and family generation status moderate the isomorphic behavior in international entry modes. The empirical results based on a logit analysis of 1,867 Chinese family firms between 2003 and 2020 provide some evidence for those hypotheses. The results reveal that family firms imitate the entry modes of their peers in an accurate manner. This implies that the isomorphic behavior can serve as a stable and convenient measure in complex circumstances and experience-driven internationalization processes. Moreover, findings also confirm that the propensity of isomorphism can be stronger when family firms operate in a province of lower marketization and are controlled by founders rather than successors, which are associated with higher levels of government intervention and SEW respectively. The findings also confirm three types of isomorphism: coercive, mimetic and normative isomorphism, in the choices of entry modes. The study contributes to the literature of internationalization of family firms by accounting for the isomorphic behavior of Chinese family firms and highlights future research opportunities.

Title 2: A CONFIGURATIONAL APPROACH TO FINANCIAL/SOCIAL TRADE-OFFS IN DUAL-PURPOSE COMPANIES

Speaker: Changwei Guo (Ph.D. student, Department of General Management, Renmin University of China)

Time: 14:50—15:30, (Thursday), Mar 23, 2023

ABSTRACT：

Dual-purpose companies (DPCs) face numerous financial and social trade-offs in their daily operations, yet existing research has not fully explored the heterogeneity and antecedents of these trade-offs. To address this gap, we propose distinguishing between states in which trade-offs are mitigated or exacerbated, and further categorizing exacerbation into two directions: social dominance and financial dominance. We hypothesize that distinct combinations of governance arrangements and organizaitonal capabilities can lead to different states of trade-offs. To test our hypothesis, we conducted a qualitative research study within a Chinese state-owned enterprise group and performed a qualitative comparative analysis of 46 subsidiaries within the group.  Our analysis identify three patterns that can lead to trade-off mitigation and three patterns to trade-off exacerbation. The findings highlight the complex interaction of multiple governance and capabilities related to different trade-off states, the multiplicity of paths leading to trade-off mitigation, and the asymmetry between patterns of different trade-off states. This study contributes to advancing our understanding of the heterogeneity of financial/social trade-offs in DPCs.