The 6th Copenhagen Conference on: 'Emerging Multinationals': Outward Investment from Emerging Economies

Date: 11-12 October 2018

Venue: Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen, Denmark

http://sf.cbs.dk/ofdi/conferences/2018_conference

Submission deadline: 15 June

Overview

This year’s conference welcomes all papers related to the broad conference theme of outward investment from emerging economies. In addition, the conference particularly invites papers related to the internationalization process. A decade or so into the current ‘wave’ of scholarly interest in outward investment from emerging economies, have particular internationalization process patterns become discernible?

Multinational companies from emerging economies (EMNCs) have become major players in the globalized world economy and wield growing influence on economic dynamics in developed, emerging, and developing countries alike. Firms and governments in developed countries increasingly need to engage with the array of challenges and opportunities presented by emerging-economy multinationals seeking access to markets and assets. Important impacts of outward direct investment from emerging economies (OFDI) are also be felt in developing host countries, where investments from emerging economies are becoming more and more significant. No less important are the effects in the home countries of the outward investing firms themselves. The rise of outward investment from emerging and developing countries requires further scrutiny theoretically, empirically and methodologically.

All papers related to the broad conference theme are welcome. In addition, this year’s conference particularly solicits papers with a focus on the internationalization process. Conceptual and empirical studies have shown how firms often internationalize through an experientially driven process involving increasing commitments to markets. What can we learn from EMNCs about the internationalization process in general? And do EMNCs exhibit particular characteristics in terms of the internationalization process? Providing new exemplars of MNCs, studies of EMNCs can help push the boundaries of our general understanding of the internationalization process and its determinants. And a deeper understanding of the dynamics of EMNC internationalization may shed light on how some of these firms progress differently through the internationalization process than what extant theories suggest.

The conference offers travel grants to three PhD/postdoc students, awarded on a competitive basis. Please indicate in your submission if you wish to apply.

Topics

The emergence of MNCs from emerging economies raises a wide range of challenges for theorists, business strategists, and policymakers alike. This year’s conference promotes ‘the internationalization process’ as a special but not exclusive theme.

• Do EMNCs tend to evolve through distinct phases from genesis to competitive international diversification? Can phases be leapfrogged?
• Does the internationalization process tend to exhibit different characteristics and dynamics for EMNCs than for developed-economy MNCs? Is it transformed for capability-seeking FDI?
• Are there systematic variations in EMNCs’ internationalization process by industry, technology base or country of origin?
• Are internationalization patterns and strategies of EMNCs qualitatively different from what we know from extant theories?
• What are the dynamics of motives with which EMNCs invest abroad, which strategies do they pursue and which challenges do they face?
• From a co-evolutionary perspective, what are the dynamics of the interrelationship between institutional change and corporate strategy? How do EMNCs’ international activities impact institutional development at home?
• How are home economies affected by the internationalization of domestic firms? Should home countries pursue particular policies to accelerate or otherwise influence their OFDI?
• How do EMNCs leverage economic, political and social ties at home to access and compete in foreign markets, especially developed country markets?
• How are companies from China and India in particular coming to internationalize their operations?
• How do EMNCs impact on different types of host economies? How are costs and benefits distributed? How are benefits captured? Which new policy challenges do they introduce?
• Which HRM strategies do EMNCs deploy to engage with local labor forces?
• How do industrial relations systems interact with EMNC strategies and strategy implementation?
• Do EMNCs differ from developed-country MNCs in terms of corporate governance and corporate social responsibility?
• What distinguishes international investment strategies by state-owned and privately owned EMNCs? Is government ownership enabler or liability in internationalization?
• Which are the roles of sovereign wealth funds?
• How does EMNC behavior vary between different industries and why?
• How does the rise of EMNCs influence global competition in different industries?

Keynote speakers

Alvaro Cuervo-Cazurra, Northeastern University
Ari Kokko, Copenhagen Business School
Axele Giroud, University of Manchester
Ilan Alon, University of Agder
Lourdes Casanova, Cornell University
Rajneesh Narula, University of Reading
Ram Mudambi, Temple University
Ravi Ramamurti, Northeastern University

Important dates

Submission of paper deadline:                   15 June
Paper acceptance/rejection:                     30 June
Registration & submission of final paper:     12 September
Conference:                                          11-12 October

Submission & publication

Please email your paper to [log in to unmask] as an MS Word or PDF document.

Accepted papers will be uploaded to an electronic proceedings on the conference website.

A post-conference special issue of a reputed international journal is currently being negotiated.

The previous conferences in the series have produced special issues of Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Journal of International Management, International Journal of Technology Management, European Management Journal, International Journal of Emerging Markets, International Journal of Technological Learning, Innovation and Development, and International Journal of Technology and Globalization.

Conference fee

The conference fee is EUR250. The fee covers meals, refreshments and conference materials. The concluding dinner is an optional extra.

Further information

For further information, contact:

Peter Gammeltoft
Department of International Economics and Management
Email: [log in to unmask]

Visit also the conference website: http://sf.cbs.dk/ofdi/conferences/2018_conference

Sponsors

Carlsberg Foundation
Otto Mønsted Foundation
EAC Foundation

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