Entrepreneurial migration has become increasingly common as a result of globalization and regional economic integration, and the economic contribution of immigrant entrepreneurs is increasingly appreciated. Many of these immigrant entrepreneurs become transnational entrepreneurs (TEs), in that their business activities link the markets of their home countries and their new host countries. Entrepreneurship, International Entrepreneurship and Internationalization Process research has emphasized the role of networks and of social capital for entrepreneurs for addressing the liabilities of foreignness or of outsidership when they address new markets. Research has not, however, addressed the role of networks for TEs, nor the role of networks in their strategies. This thesis asks how participation in Diaspora networks helps transnational entrepreneurs diminish liabilities of newness and foreignness, and how transnational entrepreneurs successfully realize and manage business embeddedness at an interorganizational level. A qualitative study is undertaken with 12 Bulgarian-owned service-consulting companies in London. Data came from semi-structured interviews of the entrepreneurs involved and their employees, which was combined with participant observations and oral life story narratives. Three overall contributions are developed from the findings of the study. First, the study makes a theoretical contribution to the field, by introducing the ‘resource orchestration’ framework in the study of entrepreneurs’ capabilities and resource configurations. Modifying this framework with the inclusion of a time dimension adapts it to the dynamism of process research. This helps the study to show how TEs typically undergo a sequence of processes in which they leverage their Diaspora networks in order to access, acquire, and adapt knowledge and capabilities. It is these processes that allow them to reduce the liabilities of foreignness that they face, and embed themselves in their new local environments. Second, the study illuminates heretofore unexplored processes of TE integration that reduce their liabilities of newness and foreignness and help to align with their new foreign country market environment. This involves preparation, paradigm shift, and initiation stages, each one being facilitated by embeddedness within a Diaspora community. It is through these integration processes that entrepreneurial resource orchestration is achieved, and the synchronization of resource structuring and bundling processes. Third, the findings challenge an assumption often encountered in entrepreneurial and international entrepreneurial network and social capital research that the co-existence of strong ties and bridging ties – referred to by Burt (1992) as an ideal configuration – is exceedingly rare. This study finds evidence of their frequent co-existence in the Diaspora network, and shows this configuration to underpin the operation and growth of the network. It shows how TEs have a particular opportunity to access, orchestrate and employ this valuable form of social capital, and doing this in the ways shown not only enables their own entrepreneurial success, but also their economic contribution to their host communities.

In economics there are two main domains of explanation for understanding unequal outcomes. The first considers differences in individual preferences, while the second concerns differences in how individuals are treated. Part I of the thesis comprises four articles pertaining to the first explanation. The main focus of these articles is gender differences in preference. The behaviors studied therein are risk preferences, competitiveness, altruism and cooperativeness. The first study finds no gender differences in performance under a competitive setting, across tasks with varying gender stereotyping. In the second study we find the gender gap in choosing to compete to be present only in the mathematical and not the verbal domain among adolescents. Moreover, its presence can largely be accounted for by other factors, such as performance beliefs. The third and fourth study compares children in Colombia and Sweden. In this sample there are no gender differences in Colombia, but in Sweden boys choose to compete more than girls. In risk-aversion however we find the gender gap to be larger in Colombia. Girls compared to boys also seem to be less cooperative in Colombia, whereas we find the opposite in Sweden. Part II comprises two articles relating to how individuals are treated by others. The first article explores how social status influences third party punishment. Punishment decisions made by male third parties in response to a norm violation are in this study found to be affected by both the social status and the gender of the judged individual. The second article investigates how transient anonymity interacts with discrimination in online markets. The results show buyer discrimination in the feedback system against male sellers with foreign-sounding names. This discrimination only occurs when sellers are anonymous; that is, if they chose not to reveal their name in their username.

Drawing insights from liability of foreignness, the punctuated equilibrium model and the resource-based view, this dissertation develops an integrated model to identify the successful strategies and characteristics of both domestic and foreign firms operating in emerging markets, affected by regulatory punctuations. Accordingly, three research questions are addressed: Why are some foreign firms more likely to survive than other foreign firms? Why are some domestic firms more likely to survive than other domestic firms? Are there any similarities between successful foreign firms and successful domestic firms? Using event-history methodologies and the Mexican banking industry as the unit of analysis, this dissertation shows the following results: Foreign firms (banks) from countries with stronger commercial ties to Mexico (the focal emerging market), were less likely to exit the banking industry. Also, the likelihood of exiting the industry, by a foreign firm, was negatively related to domestic firm (bank) acquisitions. For the domestic firms (banks), there was a positive relationship between international diversification and firm survival and a negative relationship between aggressive (loan) growth and firm survival. Also, marginal support was found about the positive relationship between “grupo” affiliation and firm survival. This research contributes to the extant literature by extending current theories when considering the effect of radical change. For instance, while punctuated equilibrium provides a good “environmental” explanation about a firm’s need to adapt to radical change, it does not suggest how firms should adapt to this change. However, by providing an explanation on how firms suppose to adapt to this radical change, this dissertation had expanded the theoretical implication of the punctuated equilibrium model. Similarly, the present dissertation provides a theoretical extension to liability of foreignness by finding that not all foreign firms face the same liability of foreignness. Lastly, the resource-based view is also extended by this dissertation research, as it is found to have implications for emerging markets firms that are different from foreign developed market firms.

This research was motivated by the desire to understand how regulatory reforms affect the task environment in an emerging market. Regulatory reforms in emerging markets have been used amongst others to correct market failures, increase competition or grow economic sectors. However, on occasion unintended consequences arise from these interventions leading to “liabilities of foreignness” for some of the entities operating in the institutional environment. To this end, this study aimed to establish if these effects were prevalent in the South African mining environment by studying two cases of companies operating in the sector, represented by a foreign and a domestic entity.An exploratory qualitative research design was followed since the researcher was unsure whether the phenomena being observed constituted LOFs or not. A literature study was conducted in order to define the construct of liabilities of foreignness and its impact on the task environment. Therefore the objective of the study was to;Establish the effect of institutional reforms in facilitating the development of LOFs in emerging markets.The research did show the regulatory reforms to alter the business environment somewhat, therefore leading to LOFs in the task environment. However, no entities appeared to be benefiting from the current regulatory reforms, as suggested by the literature. This is possibly due to organisational learning or the efficacy of the individual entities in applying coping strategies to mitigate against LOFs in the institutional context. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

September 11th 2001 led to an increase in the intensity of the already existing discourses surrounding what it means to be an American, with a particular focus on the Southern border of the United States and Mexican immigration as a perceived threat to national security. This study seeks to address the how prejudice towards undocumented Mexican immigrants generalizes to Mexican Americans. This relationship was theorized by Chavez (2008), and is what he calls the Latino threat narrative. Experimental methods will be used to measure how perceptions of Latinos differ as a function of foreignness using a 2 (positive vs. negative scenario) x 4 (Mexican American, undocumented immigrant, Latino and Anglo) X 2 (Group Process: SDO or RWA) between-subjects design. Participants were asked to read scenarios that describes a man (either Mexican American, an undocumented Mexican immigrant, a Latino or White) accidently hitting another car while parking and either leaving a note or not. The results demonstrate that when the immigration status of the man described is unknown, and he does not leave a note, participants high in Social Dominance Orientation attitudes are more likely to identify them as an undocumented Mexican immigrant. The findings of this study contribute to the literature of prejudice through further exploring the mechanisms of prejudice towards immigrant populations. / text

Previous research concludes that multinational enterprises can gain operational space in foreign institutions by utilising their foreignness. This conclusion is made with an assumption that subunits act with intentionality and insight in their response to institutional demands. To investigate this assumption, we research whether individual MNE managers are reflexive and if they utilise their foreignness deliberately. It was explored by managers individual practical work and social skill, by qualitative interviews with five Swedish MNE managers in the host market Dubai. The analysis revealed that managers are reflexive and form answers to institutional demands in terms of deviation, conformity and mutual adaptation. Mutual adaptation has not been emphasised in previous literature, which makes us conclude that managers utilisation of foreignness is not as superficial as previous research suggest. Finally, our thesis contributes to organisational institutionalism and international business research, by investigating managers practical perspective in the host market Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Institutional theory has been used to explain the duality of multinational companies and the need to establish legitimacy both internally- within the organisation and externally- with the external operating environment. The concept of liability of foreignness explains the legitimacy pressures posed by the duality of environments that MNCs are exposed to and the strategic responses taken in this context. However it remains unclear how MNCs respond appropriately to the conundrum, more so in the emerging market context. Using deductive qualitative research grounded on institutional theory, the research study sought to establish which liability of foreignness issues posed the greatest challenge for MNC executives in emerging markets, their response to emergent issues and additionally how they deal with conflicting outcomes, if any from the strategic responses taken. The findings support institutional theory precepts that external institutional pressures pose the greatest challenge for MNCs but conversely the firm’s response to the challenges puts the overall efficiency of the firm at risk. Executives of MNCs focused on emerging markets will find the outcome of the research useful as it identifies key LOF issues and the appropriate strategic response. More importantly it also addresses albeit to a limited extent how to mitigate the conflicting outcomes of such actions. An attempt is also made at establishing an optimal mix of strategic actions. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / ccgibs2014 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

Multinational corporations operating in emerging markets have to be able to operate within the institutional context of those markets. Emerging markets institutions are mostly in transition or remain undeveloped and create a variety of institutional voids. International Business scholars have also been grappling with understanding how multinational corporations deal with liability of foreignness in the host environments in which they operate. The research canvassed the views from multinationals operating in South Africa as an emerging market. This study relies on institutional theory to understand how the institutional voids in emerging markets create specific liabilities of foreignness for the multinational corporations. How multinational corporations respond to these liabilities of foreignness is investigated. / Mini Dissertation (MPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MPhil (International Business) / Unrestricted

E-handeln är en teknologisk utveckling som har underlättat internationaliseringsprocessen för företag. Likväl existerar alltjämt barriärer som kan försvåra born globals internationaliseringsprocess. Liability of foreignness är ett fenomen som beskriver de extra kostnader som företag kan stöta på vid en internationalisering. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur risker relaterade till liability of foreignness utspelar sig hos born globals vars internationalisering sker via e-handeln. En kvalitativ forskningsmetod har tillämpats där semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med tre e-handelsföretag. Det empiriska underlaget indikerar att risker kopplade till liability of foreignness har förändrats. Brist på erfarenhet och kunskap om värdlandet framgår inte längre som hinder. Genom nätverk, det mest uppenbara hindret, kan born globals inhämta kunskap om kunder och skapa sig legitimitet på den utländska marknaden. Vidare utgör regleringar fortsatt ett hinder. Företagen efterfrågar därtill fler fysiska interaktioner med intressenter, men inget tyder på att virtuality trap i dagsläget utgör ett hinder.

Diss.Stockholm : Handelshögsk.