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Abstract. Despite their growing proliferation and importance, the multinational enterprises (MNEs) from the developing countries have not received adequate attention. Further, there is a growing concern with the validity of the extant MNE theories in the context of globalization and network. This paper seeks to address two questions: (1) how much can we apply the extant MNE theories (which are built on the evidence from the developed countries) to the MNEs 本论文由英语论文网 www.51lunwen.org整理提供from the developing countries as latecomers; and (2) how much can the evidence of the MNEs from
the developing countries as latecomers offer to modify and enhance the extant MNE theories. The evidence of one longitudinal embedded case study shows that the extant MNE theories need modifications (so as to apply to the MNEs from the developing countries as latecomers) and enhancements (so as to better explain all MNEs). Also discussed are the significant implications for further theory building with regard to MNEs in the context of
globalization and network. Multinational enterprises (MNEs) have been the primary force behind the trend toward globalization (Dicken, 1998). Besides those from the developed countries, there has been an accelerating proliferation of the MNEs from the developing countries (Fujita, 1990; Tolentino, 1993), some of which are already serious global players, especially those from Asia (Mathews, 2002; Yeung, 1994a). However, our knowledge about the MNEs from the developing countries remains at best superficial (see Yeung, 1994b for a review). This problem may be caused by two key factors. The first is the issue of neglect due to a blend of ethnocentrism and parochialism (Boyacigiller and Adler, 1991). The mainstream MNE research seems to regard the MNEs from the developing countries as either insignificant or similar to theMNEsfrom the developed countries (Giddy andYoung, 1982; Mathews, 2002), thus no need to study them specifically. The second is the issue of inability due to a blend of the incompleteness of the extant MNE theories individually and the inconsistencies of the theories collectively (Andersen, 1993; Johanson and Vahlne, 1990; Li, 1995, 1997). The mainstream MNE research seems to exist as partial theories (related to the tendency to seek niches for narrowly consistent theory-building) and static theories (related to the tendency to seek equilibriums for predictably constant theory-building) (Coviello and McAuley, 1999; Parkhe, 1993), especially in the context of growing globalization (Mathews, 2002;Nordstrom, 1991).To close the gaps in the research of MNEs in general and the MNEs from the developing countries in particular, this paper attempts to address two general issues: (1) how much can 218 LI
we apply the extant MNE theories (which are built on the evidence from the developed countries) to the MNEs from the developing countries; and (2) how much can the evidence of the MNEs from the developing countries offer to enhance the extant MNE theories. We are interested in the two issues due to two major reasons. First, we are concerned that the extant MNE theories may not be applicable to the MNEs from the developing countries. For instance, the extant MNE theories fail to explain how the MNEs from the developing countries as latecomers can achieve their initial competitive advantages, and how the latecomers can catch up with the MNEs from the developed countries as early-movers. Second, we are concerned that the exta