L. Nachum

• PhD
• Professor at University of Leeds

International business research has provided substantial empirical evidence that foreign firms investing in countries with adverse environmental conditions may emerge as the main competitors in those countries. Against this backdrop, the dominance of local banks in Nigeria is puzzling. Our exploratory study, designed to investigate this inconsisten...

Unlabelled: Africa is rising, but IB scholars have largely failed to take notice. We argue that this is a missed opportunity. Not only is Africa a dynamic and distinctive region, but its rise presents a number of puzzles for international business (IB) research, with phenomena that seem to challenge fundamental assumptions underlying IB theories....

The experience of COVID-19 prompted us to rethink the imperatives of distance for the organization of value-creating activities globally. We advance a conceptualization of distance as representing separation in both space and time and posit that these distance dimensions represent different kinds of separation and require varied theoretical attenti...

Despite continuous recognition of the need for research that matters for practice, most of our research makes negligible impact on practice. We suggest a need to change the way we perceive practical impact and outline a definition of what research that matters for practice is. We develop an agenda for conducting research that meets our definition,...

Who captures the value created in Global Value Chains? How should distortions in value capture be amended and by whom? We suggest that inquiry into these questions requires evaluation of value capture in relation to value creation. Application of this approach to the study of contests for value among global brands, manufacturers, labor, and consume...

The analyses in previous chapters do not answer the question as to who captures the value created by the global apparel supply chains. Analysis of apparel market prices in major consumption regions suggest that consumers might be the major claimant of value in the apparel GVC. In this chapter we demonstrate the distinctiveness of the apparel GVC in...

In this chapter we study labor as a claimant of value. As a factor of production whose value creation and appropriation are incorporated in those of the producing firms that employ them labor represents a different type of value claimant compared to firms. We present the distinctive characteristics of labor in relation to value capture, their sourc...

We introduce the global apparel supply chain as the empirical setting of the analysis. We suggest that as one of the world’s most global supply chains, which brings together vastly heterogeneous participants, it offers rich context for observation of the ways by which the consent for value capture among the participants unfolds. We also present maj...

In this chapter we analyze value capture by Bangladesh manufacturers and the global brands outsourcing from Bangladesh, employing the relationships between value creation and appropriation as the yardstick for evaluating their respective value capture. Inconsistent with claims to the contrary, we find that in Bangladesh, value distribution between...

e present the theoretical foundations of our approach to the analyses of value capture in GVCs and discuss its novelty in relation to research in this area. We begin by introducing the concepts of value creation and value appropriation and describe their distinctive attributes, in terms of sources, the skills they require, and the competitive arena...

This chapter offers a summary of the major contributions of the research in light of the analyses and discussions and demonstrates the merits of the approach we have taken to the analyses of value capture with reference to our findings. We place the study contributions in the broader debate on value distribution in GVCs and its impact on economic d...

In this chapter we discuss multiple approaches for correcting for distortions in value capture in GVCs and outline suggestions as to the type of actions required and the constituencies that should assume responsibility for implementing them. We refer to national governments, international organizations, and global brands, and examine both nonmarket...

Pandemics change the dynamics of value chains in fundamental ways, and particularly of those producing the medical devices needed to fight them. This paper shows that the rationale for organization of the production of these devices differs from that of most other products. Varying trade-offs between the benefits of global integration and the imper...

Global value chains are highly prone to distortions in value distribution among participants. Their global fragmentation and relational governance undermine the effectiveness of regulatory intervention in amending these distortions. In this paper, I propose a new mechanism to administer value distribution that is in tune with the nature of these pr...

How does a firm's political embeddedness affect its internationalization strategy? Extant research shows conflicting effects, treating embeddedness as a unitary construct. We contend that interpersonal relational political embeddedness (IPE) is distinct from the structure of embedded ties and focus on IPE's consequences for firm internationalizatio...

The possession of intangible assets has long been assumed to be the major driver of international expansion and the factor that gives rise for the multinational company. The growth trajectory of South Africa banks does not conform to this theoretical prediction. In spite of the evident possession of vast and powerful stock of intangible assets, and...

Privately-owned Nigerian banks hold 94% of Nigeria banking assets, the world's second largest share of local ownership. Theoretical explanations for the dominance of local firms related to liabilities of foreignness do not explain this phenomenon, as foreign banks do not experience additional costs compared to local Nigerian banks. In search for ex...

The rise of the financial services sector in Africa over the last decade or so has been phenomenal, marked by significant advances in mobile money, and growing financial inclusion and profitability. However, there are significant gaps in the academic literature on the sector, as most recent studies have focused on the more technical aspects of econ...

This entry presents a definition of the construct ‘liability of foreignness’ as a term that describes the costs associated with business activity in foreign countries. It presents major theoretical and methodological developments within this area, which include attempts to identify the sources of these liabilities, examination of the country, firm...

Variations in MNEs’ competitive positions across countries are a prevalent phenomenon in the business landscape, but are not fully explained by MNE theory. Building on competition theories and applying them to the context of MNEs, we hypothesize that the value of MNEs’ assets varies in relation to competitors of different nationalities and geograph...

This entry presents a definition of the construct ‘liability of foreignness’ as a term that describes the costs associated with business activity in foreign countries. It presents major theoretical and methodological developments within this area, which include attempts to identify the sources of these liabilities, examination of the country, firm...

Research that will appear in the Strategic Management Journal shows that female Board representation influences firm performance in emerging market firms. Specifically, increasing female representation on the Board resulted in increased firm ROA, but was negatively related to Tobin's q values. These results suggest that in emerging markets investor...

Research that will appear in the Strategic Management Journal shows that female Board representation influences firm performance in emerging market firms. Specifically, increasing female representation on the Board resulted in increased firm ROA, but was negatively related to Tobin's q values. These results suggest that in emerging markets investor...

Research that will appear in the Strategic Management Journal shows that female Board representation influences firm performance in emerging market firms. Specifically, increasing female representation on the Board resulted in increased firm ROA, but was negatively related to Tobin's q values. These results suggest that in emerging markets investor...

Research that will appear in the Strategic Management Journal shows that female Board representation influences firm performance in emerging market firms. Specifically, increasing female representation on the Board resulted in increased firm ROA, but was negatively related to Tobin's q values. These results suggest that in emerging markets investor...

Many governments seek to impose gender equality on boards, but the consequences of doing so are not clear and could harm firms and economies. We shed light on this topic by conceptualizing the relationships as firm- and board-specific and embedded within specific contexts. The theory is developed with reference to emerging markets, and tested on Ma...

The term “liability of foreignness” (LOF) describes the costs that firms operating outside their home countries experience above those incurred by local firms.

The emergence of governments as global investors, via sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), extends governments’ sphere of influence beyond their home countries. We suggest that government investments are politicized because they modify the institutional environment in host countries, but subsequently, these investments gain legitimacy with important effe...

We offer some reconciliation for the conflicting views regarding the impact of women presence on boards of directors on firms' performance. Drawing on agency and dependency theories, combined with psychology theories that articulate the behavior of women, we suggest that this impact differs in relation to market- and accounting-performance, and it...

Purpose - We seek explanation for the existence of international activity in industries whose characteristics provide conflicting rationales for international expansion. In such industries, the competitive value of some industrial characteristics is magnified by international expansion, whereas the value of others is undermined by these moves. The...

We seek to offer some reconciliation for the conflicting theoretical arguments and empirical findings regarding the impact of women’s participation in boards on firms’ performance. We suggest that this impact differs in relation to market- and accounting-performance, and it is firm-specific, and varies by firms’ ownership type and the composition o...

In this commentary we build on Shenkar's (2001) award-winning critique of cultural distance, arguing that most distance constructs, in fact, suffer the same flaws because they oversimplify the relationship between countries, overlook their subjective and context-specific nature, and pay insufficient attention to the mechanisms through which distanc...

Different theoretical perspectives offer conflicting views regarding the sources of costs and advantages of firms investing overseas. Empirical analyses of financial services affiliates in London illustrate considerable inconsistencies with the predictions of Multinational Enterprise (MNF) theory regarding the significance of these attributes and t...

I seek to explain cases whereby locationally advantageous countries do not give rise to internationally competitive national firms, as theory suggests. Rather, foreign firms enjoy equal access to the country resources and build strong competitive position based on them. I suggest that location resources vary in terms of the extent to which foreign...

I argue that distinctive attributes of foreign affiliates, arising from their foreignness and multinationality, affect their choices between networks, market and hierarchy as alternative modes of governance. Comparative analyses of 193 foreign and local professional services firms in London confirm these theoretical expectations. Market relationshi...

By virtue of their participation in multiple competitive settings, MNEs confront competitors with different attributes and in different locations, creating variations that pose different competitive challenges. We classify MNE competitors by their nationality, geographic scope, and location, and maintain that the value of a focal MNE’s assets and t...

Location is commonly perceived as a source of generic resources to all firms in a given place and, therefore, not something that leads to firm-specific advantage. We challenge this view and suggest that multinational enterprises (MNEs) differ in their location capability, which enables them to create locational capital from generic location resourc...

We conceptualize the MNE as a portfolio of interdependent sub-units and examine its growth trajectory in relation to its existing portfolio. The empirical testing is based on a unique dataset that details all the location moves of US legal-services MNEs during 1949-2006. These MNEs evolve in directions that follow from their past. Their portfolios...

I examine how foreignness and multinationality affect the propensity of affiliates to form inter-organizational relationships, using local firms as benchmarks to identify the sources of the distinctiveness of foreign affiliates. The empirical testing is based on data on 554 advertising agencies in the US. The findings show that foreign affiliates f...

I seek to make sense of the variety of performance differentials between foreign and local firms observed in international competition, so that the competitive consequences of foreignness can be better understood. I develop a theoretical framework in which the costs and advantages that foreign firms have are context-specific and relative, and their...

We suggest that the proximity of a country to other countries is a factor that affects its choice as an MNE location. We introduce the concept of a country's proximity to the global distribution of knowledge, markets and resources, and frame this concept as a function of both geographic distance and the worldwide spatial distribution of these facto...

We suggest that the entire world may not always be the appropriate frame of reference in analyses of Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) location choices. In some industries and activities, more narrowly defined geographic areas, such as regions and cities, are more relevant level of analyses. Employing global cities as the geographic frame of referen...

I seek to reconcile the contradictory theoretical arguments and empirical findings concerning the performance differential between foreign and local firms. I advance hypotheses that state how foreignness creates costs and advantages for firms expanding overseas, and test them on a sample of financial service affiliates in the City of London. The fi...

the South Florida International Business Group seminar participants and Sri Zaheer.

Why do firms go abroad when technology makes it possible to do business at a distance? We argue that the cost of distance differentially affects investment motivations across industries. We find support for this hypothesis in a study of U.S. inward and outward FDI. Knowledge seeking and efficiency seeking are the two most important explanations for...

Recent research has addressed the heterogeneity among MNEs in terms of their tendency to agglomerate. In this paper, we extend the scope of the firm-specific attributes considered to affect this agglomeration tendency by examining product differentiation. We find significant association between product differentiation and the preferences of firms f...

This paper examines the impact of the industrial and geographical diversification activities of developing country firms on their performance, and draws attention to the unique attributes of these firms and of the circumstances under which their diversification activities take place. The empirical analysis is based on data from 345 developing count...

This study examines the operations of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in clusters in an effort to gain insight into the impact of cluster participation on the organisation of international activities and the generation of competitive advantages. Drawing upon the theories of international business and management, in combination with lessons from cl...

This study examines the impact of nationality on the competitiveness of multinational enterprises (MNEs) pursuing different strategies of international activity. Analysis of a sample of 303 professional service MNEs originating from 20 countries shows that the strategies that have become more common in recent decades diminish the impact of home cou...

This study was inspired by the observation that foreign financial service firms operating in the City of London do not suffer the liability of foreignness to the extent suggested by theory. To examine the reasons for this departure from theory, the study advances a theoretical framework that distinguishes between three types of advantages that toge...

This paper examines the nature of the external linkages of firms in the media cluster of Central London, and draws implications for the competitive advantages that firms in clusters develop. The analysis suggests that although these firms are strongly embedded in the local cluster and rely heavily on resources and processes available locally, they...

This paper examines the nature of the external linkages of firms in the media cluster of Central London, and draws implications for the competitive advantages that firms in clusters develop. The analysis suggests that although these firms are strongly embedded in the local cluster and rely heavily on resources and processes available locally, they...

For some industry clusters, being local may not be enough. A study of the media industries in the Soho district of central London suggests that global links are also essential.

This articles reports the findings of the 2003 Offshoring survey that was conducted in order to identify key trends and best practices, including how companies made offshore sourcing decisions and how they planned to handle potentially explosive issues around jobs displacement, community relations, protectionist ‘backlash’ against offshoring, and w...

This study seeks to explain why, in some cases, locationally advantageous countries attract foreign firms, who develop dominant competitive positions in the market, rather than facilitate the development of internationally competitive national firms, as theory suggests. Comparative analyses of samples of foreign and British-owned insurance firms in...

For some industry clusters, being local may not be enough. A study of the media industries in the Soho district of central London suggests that global links are also essential.

In this paper, we sought to extend the theory of the location determinants of MNEs by challenging one of the fundamental assumptions underlying it, namely that location advantages are absolutes whose values are identical for different MNEs. We explicitly acknowledge the relative value of location advantages for individual MNEs and search for the fi...

Notwithstanding their remarkable recent growth, surprisingly little research has hitherto been conducted on the evolving geography of professional and business services in Britain. This paper analyses the results of a detailed survey of 300 small and medium-sized management and engineering consultancies, in investigating the forces underpinning bot...

This study examines the factors affecting the propensity of firms to engage in cross border activities in a world of increasing returns. A model connecting outward FDI from the US with a set of firm-specific advantages is estimated on samples of industries dominated by increasing and diminishing return processes.

This study was inspired by the observation that foreign financial service firms operating in the City of London do not suffer the liability of foreignness to the extent suggested by theory. To examine the reasons for this departure from theory, the study advances a theoretical framework that distinguishes between three types of advantages that toge...

Technological advances are changing many aspects of business activity and in particular the meaning of distance and geography. Such changes are likely to have profound impact on firms whose activities take place over distance, namely MNEs. Using the motivations for FDI identified in the literature as a theoretical framework, this study examines the...

This study seeks to extend the theory of the origins of TNC competitive advantages by incorporating the impact of cluster linkages and examining the way in which they affect internal linkages within TNCs. Drawing upon the theories of international business and management, combined with lessons from clustering and networking theories, the study exam...

This study outlines the theoretical links between the international competitiveness of firms and their home countries and uses them to examine the dynamic relationships between the international competitiveness of the UK domestic economy and its Multinational Enterprises (MNEs). These are measured by the UK shares of OECD output, exports and outwar...

This study combines the theories of international business and management with network theory in order to examines the networking activities of foreign affiliates. It focuses on a specific kind of network, which is taking place between firms based in geographic proximity. A comparative analysis between foreign and indigenous firms in selected profe...

This study uses the comparison between foreign and indigenous firms in localised clusters to gain insights into the behaviour of the former in clusters. In-depth study of 49 foreign and indigenous media firms in the soho district of central london suggests a combination of differences and similarities between them in terms of their cluster behaviou...

This paper examines the link between the industrial structure of UK foreign direct investment (FDI) and the comparative advantage of the UK, by comparing their dynamic evolution over the last four decades. The findings illustrate that the largest shares of UK outward FDI are concentrated in sectors in which the UK is comparatively disadvantageous....

This paper attempts to examine theoretically and empirically the explanatory power of concepts drawn from economic geography for the explanation of the location of TNCs. It combines concepts from economic geography and international business theories in a model that seeks to explain the location of Transnational Corporations (TNCs), and tests the m...

This paper examines the motivations of foreign firms for investing in the Eastern and Central European countries, based on a synthesis of surveys of investors and on anecdotal observations. The findings of this examination are used as a framework within which policies towards FDI are formulated and evaluated. It suggests that the efforts of Eastern...