IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v170y2024ics014829632300694x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Home country and firm-specific advantage influences on HRM replication versus adaptation in EMNEs operating in advanced economies: A qualitative comparative analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Patel, Parth
  • Bhanugopan, Ramudu
  • Sinha, Paresha
  • Prikshat, Verma
  • Boyle, Brendan

Abstract

This article examines a variety of home and host-country factors and explains how they influence the global integration versus local adaptation of human resource management (HRM) in subsidiaries of emerging multinational enterprises (EMNEs) in advanced economies. The study draws on data collected from 15 multiple case studies using semi-structured interviews with senior directors and managers working in Australian subsidiaries of Indian multinational enterprises (MNEs) operating in the information technology (IT) services industry. The findings reveal that despite originating from weak institutions, Indian IT service MNEs do not face hurdles in replicating their home-country HRM model to their subsidiaries in Australia. International staffing of expatriates was a key industry-specific resource and capability enabling reverse country-of-origin effect to allow the Australian subsidiaries to be managed ethnocentrically. This article challenges the notion that EMNEs struggle to adapt their indigenous HRM systems and model due to weak institutions as it sheds light on the reverse relationship that exists between management practices and country-of-origin in leveraging home-country institutions. It also demonstrates that EMNEs derive competitive advantages mainly from their traditional firm and industry-specific resources and capabilities which allow them to achieve global integration of HRM.

Suggested Citation

  • Patel, Parth & Bhanugopan, Ramudu & Sinha, Paresha & Prikshat, Verma & Boyle, Brendan, 2024. "Home country and firm-specific advantage influences on HRM replication versus adaptation in EMNEs operating in advanced economies: A qualitative comparative analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:170:y:2024:i:c:s014829632300694x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114335
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014829632300694X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114335?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bonaglia, Federico & Goldstein, Andrea & Mathews, John A., 2007. "Accelerated internationalization by emerging markets' multinationals: The case of the white goods sector," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 369-383, December.
    2. Agrawal, Narendra M. & Khatri, Naresh & Srinivasan, R., 2012. "Managing growth: Human resource management challenges facing the Indian software industry," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 159-166.
    3. Boehe, Dirk Michael, 2011. "Exploiting the liability of foreignness: Why do service firms exploit foreign affiliate networks at home?," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 15-29, March.
    4. Gelbuda, Modestas & Meyer, Klaus E. & Delios, Andrew, 2008. "International business and institutional development in Central and Eastern Europe," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, March.
    5. David K Tse & Yigang Pan & Kevin Y Au, 1997. "How MNCs Choose Entry Modes and Form Alliances: The China Experience," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 28(4), pages 779-805, December.
    6. Wolfgang Mayrhofer & Chris Brewster, 2005. "European Human Resource Management: Researching Developments over Time," management revue. Socio-economic Studies, Rainer Hampp Verlag, vol. 16(1), pages 36-62.
    7. Jie Shen & Vincent Edwards & Gloria Lee, 2005. "Developing an Integrative International Human Resource Model: The contribution of Chinese Multinational Enterprises," Asia Pacific Business Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(3), pages 369-388, September.
    8. Magnus Blomström & Ari Kokko & Mario Zejan, 2000. "Host Country Competition, Labour Skills, and Technology Transfer by Multinationals," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Foreign Direct Investment, chapter 14, pages 221-231, Palgrave Macmillan.
    9. Barbara Myloni & Anne‐Wil K. Harzing & Hafiz Mirza, 2004. "Host country specific factors and the transfer of human resource management practices in multinational companies," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 25(6), pages 518-534, September.
    10. Peter Gammeltoft & Jaya Prakash Pradhan & Andrea Goldstein, 2010. "Emerging multinationals: home and host country determinants and outcomes," International Journal of Emerging Markets, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 5(3/4), pages 254-265, July.
    11. Mohan Thite, 2014. "From local to global HRM: interviews with HR heads in emerging Indian multinationals," International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 9(2), pages 151-163.
    12. Prema-chandra Athukorala, 2009. "Outward Foreign Direct Investment from India," Asian Development Review (ADR), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 26(02), pages 125-153, December.
    13. Tony Edwards & Rocío Sánchez-Mangas & Patrice Jalette & Jonathan Lavelle & Dana Minbaeva, 2016. "Global standardization or national differentiation of HRM practices in multinational companies? A comparison of multinationals in five countries," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 47(8), pages 997-1021, October.
    14. Calhoun, Mikelle A., 2002. "Unpacking liability of foreignness: identifying culturally driven external and internal sources of liability for the foreign subsidiary," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 301-321.
    15. De Beule, Filip & Elia, Stefano & Piscitello, Lucia, 2014. "Entry and access to competencies abroad: Emerging market firms versus advanced market firms," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 137-152.
    16. Florian Becker-Ritterspach & Tico Raaijman, 2013. "Global Transfer and Indian Management," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 53(1), pages 141-166, February.
    17. Amy Jocelyn Glass & Kamal Saggi, 2002. "Multinational Firms and Technology Transfer," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 104(4), pages 495-513, December.
    18. Kotabe, Masaaki & Kothari, Tanvi, 2016. "Emerging market multinational companies’ evolutionary paths to building a competitive advantage from emerging markets to developed countries," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(5), pages 729-743.
    19. Cui, Anna Shaojie & Griffith, David A. & Cavusgil, S. Tamer & Dabic, Marina, 2006. "The influence of market and cultural environmental factors on technology transfer between foreign MNCs and local subsidiaries: A Croatian illustration," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 100-111, June.
    20. Ferner, Anthony & Quintanilla, Javier & Varul, Matthias Z., 2001. "Country-of-origin effects, host-country effects, and the management of HR in multinationals: German companies in Britain and Spain," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 107-127, July.
    21. Mike Wright & Igor Filatotchev & Robert E. Hoskisson & Mike W. Peng, 2005. "Strategy Research in Emerging Economies: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(1), pages 1-33, January.
    22. Klaus E Meyer & Mike W Peng, 2005. "Probing theoretically into Central and Eastern Europe: transactions, resources, and institutions," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 36(6), pages 600-621, November.
    23. Laura Rienda & Enrique Claver & Diego Quer, 2013. "The internationalisation of Indian multinationals: determinants of expansion through acquisitions," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 115-132.
    24. Ben Kedia & Nolan Gaffney & Jack Clampit, 2012. "EMNEs and Knowledge-seeking FDI," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 52(2), pages 155-173, April.
    25. Estrin, Saul & Meyer, Klaus E. & Pelletier, Adeline, 2018. "Emerging Economy MNEs: How does home country munificence matter?," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 53(4), pages 514-528.
    26. Rao-Nicholson, Rekha & Khan, Zaheer & Stokes, Peter, 2016. "Making great minds think alike: Emerging market multinational firms’ leadership effects on targets’ employee psychological safety after cross-border mergers and acquisitions," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 103-113.
    27. Pradhan, Jaya Prakash, 2007. "Trends and Patterns of Overseas Acquisitions by Indian Multinationals," MPRA Paper 12404, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    28. Ahlvik, Catarina & Björkman, Ingmar, 2015. "Towards explaining subsidiary implementation, integration, and internalization of MNC headquarters HRM practices," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 497-505.
    29. Michael Lubatkin & Roland Calori & Philippe Very & John F. Veiga, 1998. "Managing Mergers Across Borders: A Two-Nation Exploration of a Nationally Bound Administrative Heritage," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 9(6), pages 670-684, December.
    30. Yadong Luo & Rosalie L Tung, 2007. "International expansion of emerging market enterprises: A springboard perspective," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 38(4), pages 481-498, July.
    31. Shawn Arita, 2013. "Do emerging multinational enterprises possess South-South FDI advantages?," International Journal of Emerging Markets, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 8(4), pages 329-353, September.
    32. Smitha R. Nair & Mehmet Demirbag & Kamel Mellahi, 2015. "Reverse Knowledge Transfer from Overseas Acquisitions: A Survey of Indian MNEs," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 277-301, April.
    33. Wan, Feng & Williamson, Peter & Pandit, Naresh R., 2020. "MNE liability of foreignness versus local firm-specific advantages: The case of the Chinese management software industry," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(1).
    34. Larissa Rabbiosi & Stefano Elia & Fabio Bertoni, 2012. "Acquisitions by EMNCs in Developed Markets : An Organisational Learning Perspective," Post-Print hal-02312943, HAL.
    35. Schon Beechler & John Zhuang Yang, 1994. "The Transfer of Japanese-Style Management to American Subsidiaries: Contingencies, and Competencies," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 25(3), pages 467-491, September.
    36. Phillip M Rosenzweig & Nitin Nohria, 1994. "Influences on Human Resource Management Practices in Multinational Corporations," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 25(2), pages 229-251, June.
    37. Klaus E. Meyer & Saul Estrin & Sumon Kumar Bhaumik & Mike W. Peng, 2009. "Institutions, resources, and entry strategies in emerging economies," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 61-80, January.
    38. Bhaumik, Sumon Kumar & Driffield, Nigel & Zhou, Ying, 2016. "Country specific advantage, firm specific advantage and multinationality – Sources of competitive advantage in emerging markets: Evidence from the electronics industry in China," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 165-176.
    39. Buckley, Peter J. & Yu, Pei & Liu, Qing & Munjal, Surender & Tao, Pan, 2016. "The Institutional Influence on the Location Strategies of Multinational Enterprises from Emerging Economies: Evidence from China's Cross-border Mergers and Acquisitions," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 12(3), pages 425-448, September.
    40. Randall S Schuler & Nikolai Rogovsky, 1998. "Understanding Compensation Practice Variations Across Firms: The Impact of National Culture," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 29(1), pages 159-177, March.
    41. Amy J Hillman & William P Wan, 2005. "The determinants of MNE subsidiaries' political strategies: evidence of institutional duality," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 36(3), pages 322-340, May.
    42. Thite, Mohan & Wilkinson, Adrian & Shah, Dhara, 2012. "Internationalization and HRM strategies across subsidiaries in multinational corporations from emerging economies—A conceptual framework," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 251-258.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alessia Amighini & Claudio Cozza & Elisa Giuliani & Roberta Rabellotti & Vittoria Scalera, 2015. "Multinational enterprises from emerging economies: what theories suggest, what evidence shows. A literature review," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 42(3), pages 343-370, September.
    2. Gilbert Kofi Adarkwah & Tine Petersen Malonæs, 2022. "Firm-specific advantages: a comprehensive review with a focus on emerging markets," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 539-585, June.
    3. Mukherjee, Debmalya & Kumar, Satish & Mukherjee, Deepraj & Goyal, Kirti, 2022. "Mapping five decades of international business and management research on India: A bibliometric analysis and future directions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 864-891.
    4. Luiz, John M. & Barnard, Helena, 2022. "Home country (in)stability and the locational portfolio construction of emerging market multinational enterprises," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 17-32.
    5. Yadong Luo & Rosalie L Tung, 2018. "A general theory of springboard MNEs," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(2), pages 129-152, February.
    6. Bangara, Athena & Freeman, Susan & Schroder, William, 2012. "Legitimacy and accelerated internationalisation: An Indian perspective," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 623-634.
    7. Patel, Parth & Sinha, Paresha & Bhanugopan, Ramudu & Boyle, Brendan & Bray, Mark, 2018. "The transfer of HRM practices from emerging Indian IT MNEs to their subsidiaries in Australia: The MNE diamond model," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 268-279.
    8. Dirk Holtbrügge & Sue Claire Berning, 2018. "Market Entry Strategies and Performance of Chinese Firms in Germany: The Moderating Effect of Home Government Support," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 147-170, February.
    9. Zhao, Shasha & Liu, Xiaohui & Andersson, Ulf & Shenkar, Oded, 2022. "Knowledge management of emerging economy multinationals," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 57(1).
    10. Lee, Eun Su & Liu, Wei & Yang, Jing Yu, 2023. "Neither developed nor emerging: Dual paths for outward FDI and home country innovation in emerged market MNCs," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(2).
    11. Sengupta, Aditi Sarkar & Kleindienst, Ingo & Hutzschenreuter, Thomas, 2023. "Heterogenous internationalization processes of emerging economy MNEs: A review and research agenda," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 29(3).
    12. Liedong, Tahiru Azaaviele & Peprah, Augustine Awuah & Amartey, Abednego Okoe & Rajwani, Tazeeb, 2020. "Institutional voids and firms' resource commitment in emerging markets: A review and future research agenda," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 26(3).
    13. Nair, Smitha R. & Demirbag, Mehmet & Mellahi, Kamel, 2016. "Reverse knowledge transfer in emerging market multinationals: The Indian context," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 152-164.
    14. Anil, Ibrahim & Tatoglu, Ekrem & Ozkasap, Gaye, 2014. "Ownership and market entry mode choices of emerging country multinationals in a transition country: evidence from Turkish multinationals in Romania," Journal of East European Management Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 19(4), pages 413-452.
    15. Bhaumik, Sumon Kumar & Driffield, Nigel & Zhou, Ying, 2016. "Country specific advantage, firm specific advantage and multinationality – Sources of competitive advantage in emerging markets: Evidence from the electronics industry in China," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 165-176.
    16. Newburry, William & Gardberg, Naomi A. & Sanchez, Juan I., 2014. "Employer Attractiveness in Latin America: The Association Among Foreignness, Internationalization and Talent Recruitment," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 327-344.
    17. Klaus E. Meyer & Chengguang Li & Andreas P. J. Schotter, 0. "Managing the MNE subsidiary: Advancing a multi-level and dynamic research agenda," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 0, pages 1-39.
    18. Ru-Shiun Liou & Rekha Rao-Nicholson, 2019. "Age Matters: The Contingency of Economic Distance and Economic Freedom in Emerging Market Firm’s Cross-Border M&A Performance," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 59(3), pages 355-386, June.
    19. Özcan, Gül Berna & Coronado Mondragon, Adrian E. & Harindranath, G., 2018. "Strategic entry and operational integration of emerging market firms: The case of Cemex, Beko and Tata Steel in the UK," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 242-254.
    20. Peter Zámborský & Zheng Joseph Yan & Erwann Sbaï & Matthew Larsen, 2021. "Cross-Border M&A Motives and Home Country Institutions: Role of Regulatory Quality and Dynamics in the Asia-Pacific Region," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-24, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:170:y:2024:i:c:s014829632300694x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.