How Good are Multinationality–Performance ( M‐P ) Empirical Studies?
Abstract
We critically evaluate strong views in the scholarly literature that suggest a linkage between multinationality ( M ) and performance ( P ). Building upon this critical analysis, we propose a new M‐P conceptual approach as well as a testing framework, consisting of 12 subtests, to assess the quality of the M‐P empirical literature to date. We observe that many of the most cited studies were poorly conceived and simply cannot lead to reasonable conclusions on possible M‐P linkages. The single most important flaw is the neglect of the multinational enterprise's firm‐specific advantages as the main driving force behind internationalization strategies and related effects on performance.
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The bulk of studies claiming a positive relationship between multinationality and performance suffer from conceptual and empirical flaws.
“Verbeke and Forootan (2012) have shown that most research on alleged positive linkages between firm-level level multinationality (or level of global diversification) and performance is flawed, both conceptually and empirically.”
From The future of international business research on corporate globalization that never was… (2018) · cites this paper as Verbeke & Forootan, 2012
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- Authors
- Verbeke, A., & Forootan, M. Z.
- Affiliations
- University of Calgary (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Verbeke, Alain
- Venue
- Global Strategy Journal
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2012-11
- Volume
- 2
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 332-344
- ISSN
- 2042-5791 (ISSN-L)
- 2042-5805
- OpenAlex
- W1589940047
- Cited by
- 112
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 16.14
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Global Strategy Journal (publishedVersion)
- VUBIR (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › International Business and FDI
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Innovation and Knowledge Management
- Social Sciences › Communication › International Student and Expatriate Challenges
- Keywords
- multinational corporations, firm-specific advantages, internationalization strategy, firm performance, research quality assessment, test framework
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