Configuring International Growth of Emerging Market Multinational Enterprises: A Compositional Springboarding View in the Context of India

Abstract

The rapid international growth of emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) has become widely researched in the international management field. The compositional springboarding view (CSV) provides a theoretical understanding of amalgamation-ambidexterity-adaptability elements that impact EMNEs' internationalization. Here we utilize the CSV to conduct a configurational analysis of factors explaining Indian firms' rapid international growth. Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) of a survey-archival data set matched with a sample of listed manufacturing firms from India, we identify five configurational solutions for Indian multinational enterprises (MNEs) to achieve international growth. We further develop a taxonomy of Indian MNEs' CSV configurations supporting rapid international growth that we name as amalgamator, adapter, augmentor, explorer, and springboarder. Through the configurational approach, we extend the EMNE literature in the international management field by exploring the efficacy and complementarity of compositional springboarding factors that enable Indian MNEs' rapid international growth. We also contribute to the organization theory and strategy literatures by addressing the tension alleviation between reconfiguring existing resources and creating new ones. Our theoretical extension opens new opportunities for CSV to guide strategic analyses across various resource reuse and creation scenarios.