Pace of pro-market reforms, performance feedback, and strategic renewal actions of emerging economy firms

Abstract

How do firms in emerging economies react to competitive contexts shaped by the temporal advancement of pro-market reforms? With multi-country analysis, this research shows that as the pace of reforms increases in emerging economies, the incumbent firms engage in strategic renewal actions of internal development and external sourcing through acquisitions. Furthermore, this study integrates the problemistic search perspective and finds that facing a faster pace of pro-market reforms, firms with performance above the aspiration level prioritize augmentation in internal capabilities. In contrast, firms performing below the aspiration level prioritize either domestic or cross-border mergers and acquisitions. We test our hypotheses using 55,068 firm-year observations from 37 emerging economies from 1998 to 2019. This study contributes by providing a better understanding of 'when', 'how,' and 'why' firms from emerging economies take specific strategic renewal actions as their home markets evolve.