Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The role of path dependency and managerial intentionality: a perspective on international business research

  • Introduction
  • Published:
Journal of International Business Studies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Several decades of research in the field of international business have advanced various theories and studies on the internationalization of firms. Our assessment of the literature on internationalization shows that the focus has been primarily on path-dependency and learning-based aspects of internationalization, while managerial intentionality and the possibility of managers making deliberate strategic choices towards further internationalization have not been very prominent in the IB literature. We argue that internationalization paths and processes should be approached as a joint outcome of management intentionality and experience-based learning. In other words, managers are assumed to have the ability and the intention to influence the evolutionary paths of the firm. We derive a future research agenda that calls for the pursuit of this promising and emergent research stream. Moreover, we develop a model integrating managerial intentionality, knowledge/experience and other factors (institutional and selection forces) to explain heterogeneous outcomes of internationalization positions, paths and processes.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3

Notes

  1. This article is the most cited JIBS article when measured as the number of citations in the Social Science Citation Index with 464 SSCI citations as of 1 June 2007.

  2. We collected keywords for each of these 345 publications to assess the content related to the field of internationalization. Of the most frequent keywords (with 20 or more occurrences) we selected the 54 most relevant and discriminative. With these 54 keywords, we calculated the number of times they co-occur in publications. The resulting bibliometric cartography (Noyons, 1999) groups co-occurring keywords into clusters and maps those clusters in a two-dimensional figure: the size of each cluster indicates the number of publications represented, and the color of each cluster indicates growth in the number of publications from 1991 to 2005 (black: fast growth; grey: growth around average). The label for each research topic was provided by field experts.

References

  • Abrahamson, E. and Rosenkopf, L. (1993) ‘Institutional and competitive bandwagons: using mathematical modeling as a tool to explore innovation diffusion’, Academy of Management Review 18 (3): 487–517.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, P. (1999a) ‘Seven Levers for Guiding the Evolving Enterprise’, in J.H. Clippinger III (ed.) The Biology of Business: Decoding the Natural Laws of Enterprise, Jossey-Bass: San Francisco, pp: 113–152.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, P. (1999b) ‘Complexity theory and organization science’, Organization Science 10 (5): 216–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barkema, H.G. and Drogendijk, R. (2007) ‘Internationalizing in small, incremental steps or in larger steps?’, Journal of International Business Studies 38 (7): 1132–1148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benito, G.R.G. and Gripsrud, G. (1992) ‘The expansion of foreign direct investments: discrete rational location choices or a cultural learning process?’ Journal of International Business Studies 23 (3): 461–476.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Belderbos, R. and Zou, J. (2007) ‘On the growth of foreign affiliates: multinational plant networks, joint ventures, and flexibility’, Journal of International Business Studies 38 (7): 1095–1112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Best, H. (1990) The New Competition, Institutions of Industrial Restructuring, Polity Press: Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, S.L. and Eisenhardt, K.M. (1998) Competing on the Edge: Strategy as Structured Chaos, Harvard Business School Press: Boston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buckley, P.J. and Casson, M.C. (1976) The Future of the Multinational Enterprise, Macmillan: London.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Buckley, P.J., Devinney, T.M. and Louviere, J.J. (2007) ‘Do managers behave the way theory suggests? A choice-theoretic examination of foreign direct investment location decision making’, Journal of International Business Studies 38 (7): 1069–1094.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burns, T. and Stalker, G. (1961) The Management of Innovation, Tavistock: London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chang, S.J. (1995) ‘International expansion strategy of Japanese firms: capability building through sequential entry’, Academy of Management Journal 38 (2): 383–407.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Child, J. (1972) ‘Organization structure, environment and performance: the role of strategic choice’, Sociology 6 (1): 1–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Child, J. (1997) ‘Strategic choice in the analysis of action, structure, organisations and environment: retrospect and prospect’, Organization Studies 18 (1): 43–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, W.M. and Levinthal, D.A. (1990) ‘Absorptive capacity: a new perspective on learning and innovation’, Administrative Science Quarterly 35 (1): 128–152.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, W.M. and Levinthal, D.A. (1994) ‘Fortune favors the prepared firm’, Management Science 40 (2): 227–251.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Craig, T. (1996) ‘The Japanese beer wars: initiating and responding to hypercompetition in new product development’, Organization Science 7 (3): 302–321.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cyert, R. and March, J. (1963) A Behavioral Theory of the Firm, Prentice-Hall: Englewood Cliffs, NJ.

    Google Scholar 

  • DiMaggio, P. and Powell, W. (1983) ‘The iron cage revisited: institutional, isomorphism, and collective rationality in organization fields’, American Sociological Review 48 (2): 147–160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dunning, J.H. (1988) ‘The eclectic paradigm of international production: a restatement and some possible extensions’, Journal of International Business Studies 19 (1): 1–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Emery, F.E. (1969) ‘Socio-technical Systems’, in F.E. Emery (ed.) Systems Thinking, Penguin Books: London, pp: 281–296.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fan, T. and Phan, P. (2007) ‘International new ventures: revisiting the influences behind the “born-global” firm’, Journal of International Business Studies 38 (7): 1113–1131.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Festinger, L. (1954) ‘A theory of social comparison processes’, Human Relations 7 (2): 117–140.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fiol, C.M. and Lyles, M.A. (1985) ‘Organizational learning’, Academy of Management Review 10 (4): 803–813.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flier, B., Van den Bosch, F.A.J. and Volberda, H.W. (2003) ‘Co-evolution in the strategic renewal behaviour of British, Dutch and French financial established organizations: interaction of environmental selection, institutional effects and managerial intentionality’, Journal of Management Studies 40 (8): 2163–2187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flores, R.G. and Aguilera, R.V. (2007) ‘Globalization and location choice: an analysis of US multinational firms in 1980 and 2000’, Journal of International Business Studies 38 (7): 1187–1210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forsgren, M. and Johanson, J. (1992) ‘Managing in international multi-centre firms’, in M. Forsgren and J. Johanson (eds.) Managing Networks in International Business, Gordon and Breach: Philadelphia, pp: 19–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goerzen, R. and Makino, S. (2007) ‘Multinational corporation internationalization in the service sector: a study of Japanese trading companies’, Journal of International Business Studies 38 (7): 1149–1169.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenwood, R. and Hinings, C.R. (1996) ‘Understanding radical organizational change: bringing together the old and the new institutionalism’, Academy of Management Review 21 (4): 1022–1054.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greve, H. (2003) Organizational Learning from Performance Feedback: A Behavioural Perspective on Innovation and Change, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hannan, M.T. and Freeman, J.H. (1977) ‘The population ecology of organizations’, American Journal of Sociology 82 (5): 929–963.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hannan, M.T. and Freeman, J.H. (1984) ‘Structural inertia and organizational change’, American Sociological Review 49 (2): 149–164.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hedberg, B. (1981) ‘How Organizations Learn and Unlearn’, in N. Nystrom and W. Starbuck (eds.) Handbook of Organizational Design, Oxford University Press: Oxford, pp: 3–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henisz, W.J. and Delios, A. (2001) ‘Uncertainty, imitation, and plant location: Japanese multinational corporations, 1990–1996’, Administrative Science Quarterly 46 (3): 443–475.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hennart, J.-F. (1982) A Theory of Multinational Enterprise, University of Michigan Press: Ann Arbor, MI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hennart, J.-F. (2007) ‘The theoretical rationale for a multinationality-performance relationship’, Management International Review 47 (3): 423–452.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Husted, B.W. and Allen, D.B. (2006) ‘Corporate social responsibility in the multinational enterprise: strategic and institutional approaches’, Journal of International Business Studies 37 (6): 838–849.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hutzschenreuter, T. and Voll, J. (2008) ‘Performance effects of “added cultural distance” in the path of international expansion: the case of German multinational enterprises’, Journal of International Business Studies 39 (1), doi:10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400312.

  • Hymer, S. (1960) ‘The international operations of national firms: a study of direct investment’, PhD Dissertation, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; published by MIT Press under same title in 1976.

  • Hymer, S. (1968) ‘La grande firme internationale’, Revue Economique 14 (b): 949–973.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johanson, J. and Vahlne, J.-E. (1977) ‘The internationalization process of the firm: a model of knowledge development and increasing foreign market commitments’, Journal of International Business Studies 8 (1): 23–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kogut, B. and Zander, U. (1993) ‘Knowledge of the firm and the evolutionary theory of the multinational corporation’, Journal of International Business Studies 24 (4): 625–645.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kogut, B. and Zander, U. (2003) ‘A memoir and reflection: knowledge and an evolutionary theory of the multinational firm 10 years later’, Journal of International Business Studies 34 (6): 505–515.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Learned, E.P., Christensen, C.R., Andrews, K.R. and Guth, W.D. (1969) Business Policy: Text and Cases, Richard Irwin: Homewood, IL.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewin, A.Y. and Massini, S. (2004) ‘Knowledge creation and organizational capabilities of innovating and imitating firms’, in H. Tsoukas and N. Mylonopoulus (eds.) Organizations as Knowledge Systems, Palgrave: New York, pp: 209–237.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Lewin, A.Y. and Volberda, H.W. (1999) ‘Prolegomena on co-evolution: a framework for research on strategy and new organizational forms’, Organization Science 10 (5): 519–534.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewin, K., Dembo, T., Festinger, L. and Sears, P.S. (1944) ‘Level of aspiration’, in J. McV. Hunt (ed.) Personality and the Behaviour Disorders, The Ronald Press Company: New York, pp: 333–377.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luo, A. (2006) ‘Political behaviour, social responsibility, and perceived corruption: a structuration perspective’, Journal of International Business Studies 37 (6): 747–766.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, J.W. and Rowan, B. (1977) ‘Institutionalized organizations: formal structure as myth and ceremony’, American Journal of Sociology 83 (2): 340–363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miles, R.E. and Snow, C. (1978) Organizational Strategy, Structure, and Process, McGraw-Hill: New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miles, R.E. and Snow, C. (1994) Fit, Failure, and the Hall of Fame: How Companies Succeed or Fail, Free Press: New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, D. and Chen, M. (1994) ‘Sources and consequences of competitive inertia: a study of the US airline industry’, Administrative Science Quarterly 39 (1): 1–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nadolska, A. and Barkema, H.G. (2007) ‘Learning to internationalise: the pace and success of foreign acquisitions’, Journal of International Business Studies 38 (7): 1170–1186.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, R.R. and Winter, S.G. (1982) An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change, Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Noyons, E.C.M. (1999) Bibliometric Mapping as a Science Policy and Research Management Tool, DSWO Press: Leiden.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pascale, R.T. (1990) Managing on the Edge, Penguin Books: London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pedersen, T., Petersen, B. and Sharma, D. (2003) ‘Knowledge transfer performance of multinational companies’, Management International Review 43 (3): 69–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Penrose, E. (1959) The Theory of the Growth of the Firm, Basil Blackwell: London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Porter, M.E. (1986) ‘Changing patterns of international competition’, California Management Review 28 (2): 9–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Porter, M.E. and Van der Linde, C. (1995) ‘Toward a new conception of the environment–competitiveness relationship’, Journal of Economic Perspectives 9 (4): 97–118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rodriguez, P., Siegel, D.S., Hillman, A. and Eden, L. (2006) ‘Three lenses on the multinational enterprise: politics, corruption, and corporate social responsibility’, Journal of International Business Studies 37 (6): 733–746.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rugman, A.M. and Verbeke, A. (2004) ‘A perspective on regional and global strategies of multinational enterprises’, Journal of International Business Studies 35 (1): 3–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schiff, M. and Lewin, A.Y. (1970) ‘The impact of people on budgets’, Accounting Review 45 (2): 259–268.

    Google Scholar 

  • Song, J.Y. (2002) ‘Firm capability and technology ladders: sequential foreign direct investments of Japanese electronics firms in East Asia’, Strategic Management Journal 23 (3): 191–201.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teece, D.J., Pisano, G. and Shuen, A. (1997) ‘Dynamic capabilities and strategic management’, Strategic Management Journal 18 (7): 509–533.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, J.D. (1967) Organizations in Action: Social Science Bases of Administrative Theory, McGraw-Hill: New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tushman, M.L. and O'Reilly, C.A. (1996) ‘The ambidextrous organization’, California Management Review 38 (4): 8–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Den Bosch, F.A.J., Van Wijk, R.A. and Volberda, H.W. (2003) ‘Absorptive Capacity: Antecedents, Models, and Outcomes’, in M. Easterby-Smith and M. Lyles (eds.) Blackwell Handbook of Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management, Blackwell: Oxford, pp: 278–301.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Den Bosch, F.A.J., Volberda, H.W. and De Boer, M. (1999) ‘Coevolution of firm absorptive capacity and knowledge environment: organization forms and combinative capabilities’, Organization Science 10 (5): 551–568.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vermeulen, F. and Barkema, H.G. (2002) ‘Pace, rhythm, and scope: process dependence in building a profitable multinational corporation’, Strategic Management Journal 23 (7): 637–653.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Volberda, H.W. (1998) Building The Flexible Firm: How To Remain Competitive, Oxford University Press: Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Volberda, H.W. (2004) ‘Mastering strategic renewal: mobilizing change in large multiunit firms’, Netherlands Journal of Social Sciences 40 (3): 212–246.

    Google Scholar 

  • Volberda, H.W. (2005) ‘Rethinking the Strategy Process: A Co-evolutionary Approach’, in S.W. Floyd, J. Roos, C.D. Jacobs and F.W. Kellermans (eds.) Innovating Strategy Process, Blackwell: Oxford, pp: 81–87.

    Google Scholar 

  • Volberda, H.W. and Baden-Fuller, Ch. (2003) ‘Strategic Renewal Processes in Multi-unit Firms: Generic Journeys of Change’, in B. Chakravarthy, G. Mueller-Stewens, P. Lorange and C. Lechner (eds.) Strategy Process: Shaping the Contours of the Field, Blackwell: Oxford, pp: 208–232.

    Google Scholar 

  • Volberda, H.W. and van den Bosch, F.A.J. (2004) ‘Rethinking the Dutch innovation agenda: management and organization matter most’, Innovation Lecture, Ministry of Economic Affairs, The Netherlands, ERS-2004-009-STR.

  • Volberda, H.W. and Lewin, A.Y. (2003) ‘Co-evolutionary dynamics within and between firms: from evolution to co-evolution’, Journal of Management Studies 40 (8): 2111–2136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Volberda, H.W., Baden-Fuller, Ch. and van den Bosch, F.A.J. (2001) ‘Mastering strategic renewal: mobilizing renewal journeys in multi-unit firms’, Long Range Planning 34 (2): 159–178.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wagner, H. (2004) ‘Internationalization speed and cost efficiency: evidence from Germany’, International Business Review 13 (4): 447–463.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wernerfelt, B. (1984) ‘A resource-based view of the firm’, Strategic Management Journal 5 (2): 171–180.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Witt, M. and Lewin, A.Y. (2007) ‘Outward foreign direct investment as escape response to home country institutional constraints’, Journal of International Business Studies 38 (4): 579–594.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We would like to highlight the large number of very promising papers and excellent ideas that were submitted for the focused issue. Furthermore, we have to thank all authors, particularly the workshop discussants, and all reviewers for their great work and their valuable contribution to this JIBS focused issue. Moreover, we deeply appreciate the contribution and editorial guidance of the Editor-in-Chief, Arie Y Lewin, and the support of the Managing Editors, Danielle Trojan and Joy Kearney, as well as ACCS Managing Chair, Boris Frhr. Marschall v Bieberstein, throughout the process.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management, Vallender, Germany

    Thomas Hutzschenreuter

  2. Copenhagen Business School, Denmark

    Torben Pedersen

  3. Department of Strategic Management & Business Environment, RSM Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Henk W Volberda

Authors
  1. Thomas Hutzschenreuter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Torben Pedersen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Henk W Volberda
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thomas Hutzschenreuter.

Additional information

Accepted by Arie Lewin, Editor in Chief, xxxx. This paper has been with the author for •• revisions.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hutzschenreuter, T., Pedersen, T. & Volberda, H. The role of path dependency and managerial intentionality: a perspective on international business research. J Int Bus Stud 38, 1055–1068 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400326

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400326

Keywords

Search

Navigation