新兴经济体跨国企业天生全球化的动因探究——基于QCA方法的组态分析

The Motivation of the Born Global Enterprises from Emerging Economics:A Configuration Analysis based on QCA Method

传统对外直接投资(OFDI)理论认为,企业国际化进程是渐进式的。然而,在新兴经济体中,却存在一批在成立短期内快速进入海外市场的天生全球化企业。这一现象当前仍未得到共识性解释。本文基于资源基础观、动态能力理论和社会关系网络理论,从创新优势、海外社会网络和国际企业家精神三个视角对新兴经济体跨国企业(EMNEs)天生全球化的缘由进行理论阐述,并以2008一2019年178起中国企业对外直接投资事件为例,运用定性比较分析法(QCA)揭示EMNEs天生全球化的复杂动因。组态分析结果表明:创新优势、海外社会网络和国际企业家精神的“多重条件并发”形成EMNEs天生全球化的多样化组态模式,具有明显的“殊途同归”特点。创新成果导向、天生创新导向、创新过程导向、弱关系网络、强关系网络、行动前摄性和风险承担性七要素构成六条组态路径和四种EMNEs天生全球化模式。与此同时,不同前因条件间还存在着更为复杂的关系:创新优势方面,创新成果导向、天生创新导向和创新过程导向在不同情境下两两之间存在叠加或挤占效应;海外社会网络方面,弱关系网络和强关系网络之间存在挤占效应。本文从组态视角系统地解释了EMNEs天生全球化的驱动机制,研究结论丰富了OFDI理论的知识体系,为来自新兴经济体的新创企业“走出去”提供实践启示。

Since the 21st century,with the market expansion and the deepening of international division of labor,the trend of global economic integration has become increasingly prominent.Emerging economies'multinational enterprises(EMNEs)have begun to integrate and allocate resources globally,aiming at cultivating stronger international competitive advantages.Uppsala model provides a framework to explain the process of enterprise internationalization.It holds that enterprise internationalization is a process of learning or accumulating knowledge,and as a result,acquiring experience becomes the motivation for enterprises to carry out internationalization.However,some enterprises have made significant overseas investments and obtained remarkable achievements without following such path dependence.The emergence of born global enterprises has greatly weakened the realistic explanatory power of traditional outward foreign direct investment(OFDI)theory,leading to a theoretical confrontation between the Uppsala model and the born global.Although this phenomenon has prompted scholars to investigate what factors lead to born global,few studies have got in depth and obtained remarkable findings.Based on 178 OFDI events conducted by Chinese A-share listed enterprises from 2008-2019,this paper theoretically explains the reasons why a group of EMNEs are born global from three perspectives,composed by innovation advantages,overseas social network and international entrepreneurship.Qualitative comparative analysis(QCA)is used to reveal the complex causes of the born global EMNEs.The results of the configuration analysis show that"the multiple concurrency"of innovation advantages,overseas social networks and international entrepreneurship conditions form diverse configuration patterns of born global,with the obvious characteristic of"dfferent paths leading to the same destination".Namely,the seven elements,such as innovation outcome orientation,innate innovation orientation,innovation process orientation,weak relationship network,strong relationship network,action foresight and risk-taking constitute six paths and four modes of born global EMNEs.Further,,there is a complex relationship inside different antecedents,that is,in terms of innovation advantages,the stack effect or the crowding effect between the pairs of innovation outcome orientation,innate innovation orientation and innovation process orientation in different situations,while and the crowding effect between weak and strong relationship networks in terms of overseas social networks.Compared with previous studies,this paper has probably made the following contributions.First,it explores the driving mechanism of multifactor combinations for born global EMNEs,by integrating factors of innovation advantage,overseas social networks and international entrepreneurship.The results reveal that EMNEs need to couple heterogeneous resources to overcome the liability of foreignness.The existing studies still remain at the theoretical level,however,this paper innovatively utilizes QCA to construct a systematic framework for explaining born global under the multi-perspective theory.Secondly,it provides richer insights and evidence on the modes of born global EMNEs.It proves that a single element cannot successfully drive born global enterprises,and different elements have complex interactions with each other.This finding cracks the dilemma that the traditional single perspective cannot adequately explain the phenomenon of born global,and it also further refines the relationship between different perspectives in the integration framework of born global.Thirdly,based on the Chinese scenario,this paper explores the factors that drive the born global EMNEs by using the QCA method,responding to the call for the establishment of a systematic framework and mechanism of born global.By using the QCA method,this paper not only enriches the methodological toolbox in the field of born global research,but also provides empirical data to support the presentation of the typicality,diversity and complexity of the motivation of born global represented by Chinese multinational enterprises.