De-internationalization of cross-border investments from a de-globalization perspective: a systematic literature review and structuring of the field

Abstract

Globalization has propelled economic development for decades, but this trend seems to be broken, potentially entering a reversal trend of de-globalization, as recent indicators allegedly reveal. Owing to the complexity and novelty of this trend, the literature leads to ambiguous assessments of economic de-globalization and its implications. Therefore, this literature review, drawn from international business literature, attempts to outline the drivers of economic de-globalization and understand how these drivers affect the de-internationalization of cross-border investments by multinational enterprises. Thus, this review provides a terminological basis by distinguishing between de-globalization as an external macro driver and de-internationalization as an internal corporate response. The interdependent de-globalization drivers are social inequality, technological advancement, and environmental sustainability. Additionally, (inter-) national politics play an outstanding role in understanding the development of de-globalization. This study structures the literature on de-globalization and finds that the impact of de-globalization drivers on multinational enterprises varies considerably. As the topic of de-globalization is rather new and conceptually elaborated, many research opportunities exist in this field.