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Unpacking Dimensions of Foreignness: Firm‐Specific Capabilities and International Dispersion in Regional, Cultural, and Institutional Space
Author(s) -
Asmussen Christian Geisler,
Goerzen Anthony
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
global strategy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.814
H-Index - 24
eISSN - 2042-5805
pISSN - 2042-5791
DOI - 10.1111/j.2042-5805.2013.01055.x
Subject(s) - unpacking , argument (complex analysis) , viewpoints , liability , economic geography , space (punctuation) , business , geographical distance , set (abstract data type) , institutional theory , diversity (politics) , industrial organization , sociology , political science , economics , accounting , law , population , philosophy , biochemistry , linguistics , chemistry , demography , programming language , social science , art , computer science , visual arts
While recent research has pointed to the importance of regional strategy and the ‘interregional liability of foreignness,’ critics have pointed out that this argument obscures important differences within regions as well as the similarities across them. Bridging these diverging viewpoints, our research is designed to unpack this debate into cultural, institutional, and regional components. Using a large data set, we find that firms are significantly more dispersed across cultural and, in particular, institutional boundaries, than they are across geographically defined regional boundaries. Further, our results indicate that certain firm‐specific resources influence firms' global dispersion; in particular, we find that a nuanced interplay of proprietary capabilities such as technology, marketing, and partnering capabilities has an impact on the location of firm activities.