Kang (Frank) Tan’s scientific contributions

Mixed and inconsistent research results linking International Entrepreneurial Orientation (IEO) to international performance have led to controversies about the value of IEO as a determinant of international performance. Our research proposes a new model that considers international dynamic capabilities (IDCs) as a mediator between IEO and international performance. Cultural and institutional distance are considered as boundary conditions. Using multi-country, multi-informant, and multi-source data collected from 303 SMEs in China and Tunisia, we find that IDCs mediate the effect of SMEs' IEO on international performance, but the impacts of three IEO dimensions on IDCs vary under different institutional and cultural contexts.

Over the past two decades, many Chinese companies have successfully expanded into overseas markets and consequently become known as “emerging dragons.” However, we still don’t know how they achieved success. In this chapter, we examine 35 overseas Chinese companies, consisting of 25 firms selected from 80 Harvard Business Review Cases related to the overseas expansion of Chinese companies, and 10 firms listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchange Markets. To ensure the validity of our analysis, we only selected the private business and excluded the state-owned companies from our database. Our analysis reveals five strategic patterns: market dominators, export clusters, technology innovators, culture carriers, and overseas financial investment and supply chain integrators. Following the Political, Economic, Social, Technology (PEST) framework, we discuss how “emerging dragons” in each of the five strategic patterns capitalize on opportunities and avoid threats in uncertain foreign environments.

Shanzhai products that imitated global leading brands’ design and function by using similar yet different trademark, attracted middle- and low-end consumers in the emerging markets. Some shanzhai brands have successfully grown to be reputable brands to challenge global leading brands. Scholars and managers have just started to pay attention to the significant impact of shanzhai products on business and consumers. However, many people are unclear about the distinction between shanzhai and counterfeit. In this chapter, we introduced shanzhai products definition and shanzhai manufacturers’ characteristics. We then summarized consumers’ motives in choosing shanzhai products instead of counterfeit products. Third, we discussed shanzhai business models in emerging economies. Finally, we proposed several shanzhai solutions for original leading brands reference. We hope our research findings could contribute to imitation literature and offer important implications for managers to think about how to address shanzhai challenges.

Prior literature has provided little insight into how counterfeit dominance—consumers’ perception that counterfeit brands possess over 50% of market share for authentic and counterfeit brands combined—influences luxury fashion brand owners’ perceptions of their brands across cultures. Our research shows that counterfeit dominance negatively affects the perceived quality and purchase intention of luxury fashion brands across product categories for Anglo-American, but not for Asian, consumers. A social-adjustive attitude underlies this difference. Therefore, counterfeit dominance has stronger negative impacts on luxury fashion brand owners’ perceptions of their brands for those with a weak (Anglo-Americans), but not with a strong (Asians), social-adjustive attitude. Perceived quality mediates the effect of counterfeit dominance on luxury fashion brand owners’ purchase intention in different cultures. This investigation contributes to both theory and practice through examining an understudied phenomenon and also offering strategies to offset the inimical effects of counterfeit dominance.

Imitation goods are widely spread throughout the global business world. Shanzhai imitation (山寨) represents a type of imitation that mimics the original brand through surface or functional similarities but often provides enhanced or innovative features adapted to local market needs. Although both practitioners and academia have studied and provided solutions to combat counterfeits, solutions for original brand manufacturers to address the threats from Shanzhai products are lacking. In this article, we first differentiate Shanzhai products from counterfeits. Using a mixed method approach that combines interviews and laboratory experiment results, we then identified Social, Individual, Functional, and Financial (SIFF) factors as driving forces for consumers’ choice of Shanzhai products. Shanzhai buyers give more weight to functional value and the price/quality ratio than do counterfeit buyers, who in turn favor social value and materialism more than Shanzhai buyers. Finally, we provide several recommendations to original manufacturers from both the demand and supply sides.