While the internationalization of EMNEs has been widely studied, less is known about how and why these firms disengage from foreign markets, under conditions when both home and host contexts are institutionally turbulent. This study examines the divestment of three South African multinational retailers from Nigeria between 2020 and 2023 to address the following research question: What host-country conditions are associated with foreign divestment by EMNE retailers in other emerging markets, and how do home-country and firm-level constraints shape subsequent exit pathways? Drawing on a qualitative multiple case study design, the findings show that persistent host-country institutional turbulence constituted the primary source of exit pressure, while home-country instability and firm-level operational challenges acted as reinforcing constraints that reduced firms' capacity to absorb prolonged volatility. Once divestment became unavoidable, firms pursued bounded exit pathways shaped by regulatory complexity, limited capital market depth, and foreign exchange constraints. Exit involved a structured disengagement process with distinct antecedents, trajectories, and adaptive capabilities. Divestment was not merely a reactive withdrawal but a strategic recalibration, enabling firms to reallocate resources, preserve capabilities, and maintain future re-entry options. The findings suggest that, under sustained institutional turbulence, divestment may unfold as a constrained process of strategic adjustment through which firms manage disengagement while reassessing risk exposure and international portfolio priorities over time. By situating these findings in an Africa–Africa retail context, the study advances a more context-sensitive understanding of EMNE divestment as a cumulative and conditioned process rather than a simple reversal of foreign direct investment.

Although the literature on corruption is extensive, it is also fragmented, with inconsistencies and inconclusive findings that limit theoretical and practical advancements. Scholars have called for multi‐factor, multi‐level frameworks that integrate macro, micro and longitudinal aspects to provide a more cohesive understanding of corruption's persistence and mitigation. This study addresses these calls through a systematic literature review, offering a critical synthesis of structural and agential perspectives on corruption. Thereby it identifies gaps in existing scholarship and proposes an integrated framework that situates corruption within the interaction of two key dimensions: institutional resource allocation and institutional maturity. By drawing on institutional logics, it positions corruption and anti‐corruption as outcomes of competing institutional logics, shaped by the resources committed to their embedding. This perspective enables a dynamic examination of how structure and agency interact to sustain or challenge corruption. Specifically, it accounts for how institutional resources either reinforce dominant logics or enable shifts towards alternative, reformist logics. It allows for the study of dynamic feedback loops and pathways that influence corruption's evolution. Resource allocation and institutional maturity interact recursively, shaping institutional logics over time. These dynamics highlight the role of feedback loops in driving corruption escalation, stabilization or reform. By synthesizing insights from the literature, the study highlights pathways for future research, including investigating the role of institutional resource allocation, temporal dynamics and the mechanisms underlying transitions between stages of corruption. It reconciles theoretical tensions between structural and agential accounts, offering actionable insights for scholars and policymakers.

We examine how emerging market defence entities, as industry latecomers, have internationalised and gained market share, and affected industry dynamics. It investigates the role that sectoral innovation systems and industrial policies have played, and whether and how these defence entities have been able to develop their indigenous innovation capabilities. Four in-depth country cases are analysed longitudinally, from the inception of their domestic military industries into the present - namely Singapore, South Korea, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. We find that the policy landscape through industrial policy and government support, combined with shifts in technology and demand, created conditions for emerging market defence entities to engage in limited catch-up with incumbents. We highlight the challenges they have had in moving beyond linking and leveraging in developing their indigenous industrial capabilities. We contribute towards our understanding of the interplay between sectoral innovation systems, industry latecomers and the role that internationalisation can play in taking advantage of possible windows of opportunity. We show how the industry specificities of the defence sector have restrained some of these opportunities and similarly how domestic sectoral innovation systems can either facilitate or impede the exploitation of these opportunities.

Refugee camps represent some of the most adverse entrepreneurial environments, where legal restrictions, systemic exclusion, and chronic resource scarcity create formidable barriers to economic activity. Yet many refugees engage in entrepreneurial ventures, raising questions about how they navigate, adapt to, and reshape such constrained contexts. This study investigates refugee entrepreneurship in the Dzaleka refugee camp in Malawi, drawing on an embedded case study design. Our analysis develops a framework that conceptualizes refugee entrepreneurship as a dynamic process shaped by evolving constraints, temporally adaptive strategies, and multidimensional resourcefulness. We identify three interrelated dimensions of resourcefulness: material improvisation, cognitive adaptability, and relational strategy, whose salience shifts as entrepreneurs recalibrate their engagement with camp, host community, and transnational markets. By tracing these temporal trajectories, we show how refugee entrepreneurs exercise agency not as a fixed trait but as an evolving capacity expressed through cycles of embedding, dis-embedding, and re-embedding across relational and institutional contexts. We demonstrate how resourcefulness recursively reshapes the constraint environment, generating new risks and opportunities that necessitate continual adaptation. In this context resourcefulness becomes a dynamic enactment of agency and embeddedness a temporally contingent, actively managed resource.

This paper extends an established finding: that institutions are important for foreign direct investment (FDI). Our results show that institutions are both more and less important than previous empirical results suggest. This is because the concentration of FDI in a location matters. Theoretically, if institutions serve a risk-mitigating role, then rising locational concentration of FDI compromises the risk diversification function that multiple locations for FDI provides. This can be offset by high-quality institutions. The implication is that the impact of institutions on FDI will be enhanced with rising FDI concentration. Empirically, we examine the locations of outward FDI from South Africa from 1996-2019, confirming the presence of a strong association between FDI and an institutions-FDI concentration interaction term. The result is robust to many alternative means of measuring institutions and to a number of alternative means of representing the implied nonlinearity in estimation. The inference is that for any location that is intent on attracting strong concentrations of FDI inflows, the general precept that sound institutions are important in attracting FDI flows is enhanced, both in terms of the strength of institutional improvement, and the breadth of institutions that require attention.

Research suggests that institutions affect the levels of corruption in a country. We take these arguments a step further and examine whether it is the presence of inclusive institutions and/or the credible and consistent implementation of institutions that matter, as regards corruption. We use a novel approach to theoretically conceptualise and empirically operationalise institutions along two analytically distinct dimensions: the nature of the institutions (the de jure dimension), and the extent to which they are credibly and consistently implemented over time (the de facto dimension), using a panel dataset for 148 countries covering 2012 to 2018. We find that formal institutions are most effective in reducing corruption when the rules are credibly and consistently implemented. Furthermore, this effect appears to operate differently at different levels of national income. The nature of the formal institutions appears important across income levels, but particularly so at the upper middle income level, while the credible and consistent implementation of these institutions is primarily influential at upper middle income levels. We explain why this may be the case and elaborate on the policy implications.

Multinational corporations operate across locations with different risk profiles. We examine how multinational corporations address the optimal allocation of capital across multiple locations and analyse the transition path to the intertemporal equilibrium. Our model considers returns, risks and adjustment costs to reflect the dynamics of allocating capital assets across locations over time, as well as the mix of assets across locations in equilibrium. Variational calculus is employed to show that the model confirms standard expectations that where a location’s rates of return on assets increase, or adjustment costs decrease, equilibrium capital allocation and transitional capital flows to that location will increase. Symmetrically, rising (falling) risk increases (decreases) the proportion of the capital asset holdings of a location. The crucial insight is that for the transitional dynamics to intertemporal equilibrium, the optimal relative capital flow response to changes in risk can generate relative portfolio allocations that may initially move in the opposite direction to that implied by the stock equilibrium. Specifically, an increase in risk for the high-risk location may initially result in an increase in the relative capital asset flow to the high-risk location relative to the low-risk location. Empirical research must account for the possibility of non-monotonicity in asset allocation flows to avoid misspecification. Moreover, policy makers will have to anticipate possible pressure for reversal resulting from short-term worsening capital flows. These reflections are mirrored in recent research calls for separating structural and transition effects of institutional change on the investment decisions by multinational corporations.

Universities are often criticised for perpetuating gender inequalities in the preparation of students for the workforce. Employing a mixed methods approach, we explore whether perceived obstacles to academic and professional success are gender-based. We analyse responses from generation Z management students (n = 405) using attribution theory. We find that students predominantly perceive 'effort' as an enabler to their future success with gender disparities emerging when examining the multifaceted obstacles to their future success. Out of all demographic characteristics analysed, gender, and particularly a perceived lack of confidence by female students, is the most predominant and statistically significant factor. Through in-depth qualitative research we develop our understanding of these gendered student attributions, highlighting their potential impact on long-term professional success and their contribution to future earning inequalities. We examine the implications of our findings for educators and propose proactive strategies to tackle gendered disparities in the student experience.

Starting a business is an endeavour that requires the ability to identify an opportunity, match the necessary resources and manage the uncertainty and risk associated with doing so. Using a qualitative methodology, we explore the role that faith plays in this new venture creation as regards Christian entrepreneurs in South Africa and how it affects their sensemaking process. We find that that their faith influences the entrepreneurial sensemaking process in complex ways and demonstrate the formation of a shared sense of agency between God and the entrepreneur - a paradox of agency. This agency shifts from the entrepreneur in the creation phase to a faith-aligned agency over time, which helps mitigate identity conflict and uncertainty. We demonstrate the dynamics and webs of association between the economic and the social realms both in terms of the initial decision-making process but also the entrepreneurs' desire for both an economic and social impact.

Internationalizing into African markets is often portrayed as difficult due the presence of “institutional voids”. However, the lack of familiarity that MNEs may have of African markets may result in (Western-centric) biases of African institutions. To mitigate this, we examine a case study of how institutional voids were experienced by a South African MNE that internationalized into Nigeria. We ask how an MNE’s home country institutional experience affects the conceptualization of the severity of institutional voids? We demonstrate that institutions are not monolithic but layered and dynamic and that voids were not experienced homogenously. Managers distinguished between dimensions of institutional voids: those they anticipated beforehand and those that were unexpected, as well as the volatility associated with how rapidly and frequently the institutions changed. Furthermore, these voids were interpreted relative to the institutional context of both their home country and the prior locational portfolio of the MNE.

Using a historical lens to investigate sanctions against Apartheid South Africa, we found foreign multinational enterprises (MNEs) lost out repeatedly during sanctions, almost always to the local economic elite. When MNEs departed, they often sold their assets to the local economic elite to salvage some value. To ensure continued operations (and thus payments to them), MNE continued supporting buyers during the sanctions era. If MNEs repurchased their assets once sanctions ended, the local elite again benefited. Personal ties matter in institutionally weak contexts, and we make a contribution by using elite theory to interrogate with whom such ties are forged.

Institutional voids are often presented as challenges of doing business in emerging markets. We seek to understand how the presence of institutional voids impacts foreign operations and the capabilities required in such environments, within an African setting. We examine this through a qualitative case study of a South African MNE operating in Nigeria and investigate how different capabilities were utilized in addressing institutional voids. The findings indicate that the MNE differentiated between institutional voids that were known and predictable, versus those that were unknown before entry and by the level of volatility associated with them. The latter required increasing orders of capabilities. We demonstrate how distinct capabilities were deployed to address different consequences of voids. We explain the link between the institutional setting and the MNE process of orchestrating both internal and external resources allowing for a better understanding of how institutions impact on MNE capabilities.

Purpose: The study explores the country-of-origin effect on the product evaluation of wine offerings from South Africa in European markets. We examine whether a liability of emergingness manifests and its characteristics from an African context. Design/methodology/approach: Using a qualitative approach, we examine the country-of-origin effect building on the existing theories and gaining insights from multiple perspectives and participants who are involved in the South African and European wine supply chains. Findings/results: We reveal country-product category interaction and show that the wine category has certain dynamics (complexity, vastness of choice, and limited consumer knowledge) that leads consumers to rely more on extrinsic properties in their product evaluations. We show that a liability of foreignness and emergingness, and particularly Africanness, is at work in terms of the product evaluation of South African wine in European markets. Practical implications: We integrate the country-of-origin effect with the liability of foreignness (specifically emergingness and Africanness) research and demonstrate its manifestation in an African context. We contribute towards emerging market country-of-origin effect research, highlighting the liability of emergingness, and unpack its multidimensionality and connections between product category and country engagement dynamics, and how these are affected by consumer involvement, the retail environment, and engagement with expertise. Originality/value: Understanding how country-of-origin effects manifest with products from emerging markets is of increasing importance given the continued economic shifts towards that part of the world. We examine avenues for South African producers to mitigate country-of-origin effects.

The assumption that better institutions are favoured in multinational enterprises’ (MNEs) location choices has been questioned in terms of whether emerging market MNEs might have different capabilities associated with the institutional conditions in their home country that they may exploit when internationalizing. They might seek to expand both to better institutional environments (institutional substitution) and to other emerging market environments (institutional complementarity). We examine if elements of institutional complementarity and substitution are evident in the internationalization decisions of Indian MNEs, and whether there are boundary conditions or limits attached to the benefits of these two effects. Our arguments are tested on a sample of Indian MNEs’ cross-border acquisitions between 2002 and 2021. The study differentiates between institutional distance effects in terms of both magnitude and direction, and institutional quality. We raise the notion of “institutional ranges or thresholds” (different points on the institutional profile distribution representing varying levels of institutional quality) and explicitly seek to identify such thresholds where the effects of institutional complementarity and substitution may set in and/or disappear, and why that may be the case.

Our research explores how the historically institutionalized and authoritarian discriminatory South African context continues to affect the experiences of LGBT mid-level managers in the workplace. South Africa provides a rich environment to explore "axes of oppression" (heteronormativity/homophobia, race/racism, gender/sexism), and how these manifest and impact on participants' work experience. Bringing together intersectionality as an analytical strategy with identity work allows us to examine the interaction between identities and the institutionalized processes by which they are shaped. Our findings show a multifaceted fluidity of oppression where individuals can move between continuums of advantage and disadvantage. We demonstrate the importance of historically embedded modes of oppression within the theory of intersectionality and how this manifests in institutional and organizational practices. As a result, organizations, institutions, and individuals play a role in reproducing inequality through intricate systems of oppression at micro, meso, and macro levels. This affects how individuals draw on their intersecting identities to respond to and decipher encounters with others.

South African Journal of EconomicsVolume 91, Issue 1 p. 135-136 LETTER TO THE EDITOR In memoriam Charles Edward Wickens Simkins: The renaissance economist Johannes Fedderke, Johannes Fedderke orcid.org/0000-0003-4482-5939 School of International Affairs, Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania, USASearch for more papers by this authorJohn Luiz, Corresponding Author John Luiz [email protected] orcid.org/0000-0003-3806-4424 University of Sussex Business School, Brighton, UK Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa Correspondence John Luiz, University of Sussex Business School, and Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch, Cape Town 7701, South Africa. Email: [email protected]Search for more papers by this author Johannes Fedderke, Johannes Fedderke orcid.org/0000-0003-4482-5939 School of International Affairs, Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania, USASearch for more papers by this authorJohn Luiz, Corresponding Author John Luiz [email protected] orcid.org/0000-0003-3806-4424 University of Sussex Business School, Brighton, UK Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa Correspondence John Luiz, University of Sussex Business School, and Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch, Cape Town 7701, South Africa. Email: [email protected]Search for more papers by this author First published: 16 January 2023 https://doi.org/10.1111/saje.12338Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL No abstract is available for this article. Volume91, Issue1March 2023Pages 135-136 RelatedInformation

Institutions matter as regards foreign location investment decisions, but how they matter and in what ways, is still unsettled. We differentiate between absolute and relative institutional effects on both location choice and on the size of the FDI and do so by examining India's outward FDI flows between 2008 and 2020. We find that absolute and relative institutional measures have different effects, and these are noticeable at different stages. We show that the quality of institutions affects location choice, but once they have made that decision then the scale of the investment is impacted by institutional threshold effects and institutional distance, and we explain why this could be the case. We provide further nuance to studies on the asymmetrical effects of institutions on outward FDI. We provide empirical evidence that the effects of absolute institutions matter more where host countries lie at the lower end of the institutional profile distribution. Likewise with institutional distance—it might not be the direction of the difference that matters so much as where the host country is located along the institutional profile distribution. This has substantial consequences from both a managerial and a policy perspective.

Prior literature suggests that teaching corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability has led to little development of students' reflexive engagement with the challenges of sustainable development. To shed light on this criticism, we apply sensemaking-as entailing the three stages of scanning for information, interpreting it and identifying alternatives of action-to CSR/sustainability education. Analysing cognitive maps of CSR, drawn by undergraduate finalists from a UK business school, we find that students are able to produce complex cognitive maps in terms of scanning for information; however, cognitive bottlenecks occur at the second and third stages of sensemaking. A key pedagogical challenge is, therefore, to support students in moving beyond scanning towards developing meaning and acting on that basis. By introducing a sensemaking lens, we add to a deeper understanding of the complexities associated with CSR education as it aids (or impedes) critical engagement and action.

Purpose: The study explores how forces of disruption and innovation affect the printing industry in an emerging market context and how incumbent firms respond to the challenges associated with these forces. Design; methodology approach: The research is an exploratory study based on qualitative analysis of senior managers within the South African large-scale printing industry that seeks to gain their perspectives on viable options to curb declining growth. Findings/results: The study results are organised around the industry’s challenges, the organizational capabilities required to address these challenges and the opportunities presented by the market disruption. Respondents argue that opportunities exist within the sector but that this requires fresh thinking and a more entrepreneurial approach. Strategies highlighted include consolidation, diversification and internationalisation. Originality value: The study applies theories associated with disruptive innovation and creative destruction to an industry facing long-term structural decline. Respondents maintain that there are options for growth even in the face of such disruption and address the role of management and entrepreneurial activities in this regard. Practical implications: The study results suggest that for smaller, more agile printers there are opportunities to take advantage of disruptive innovation, especially where they have less legacy baggage and fewer sunk costs to recuperate. For the larger printing firms there may be tangential opportunities to go ‘downmarket’ into less developed countries that are often at earlier stages of market disruption. Further innovation is required to stave off the decline prevalent in the traditional printing industry and embrace a growth mentality. Contribution: The article demonstrates the application of disruptive innovation in an emerging market context and the role of strategic management in addressing such disruption through consolidation, diversification, efficiency drives, and internationalisation.

Emerging markets often experience instability due to rapid changes to the institutional environment, social changes like rapid urbanization, or even unrest. We argue that emerging market multinationals (EMNEs) manage such instability by constructing and changing locational portfolios, and qualitatively analyze six cases in South Africa over a period that included the entrenchment of Apartheid, increasing resistance to it, the immediate postApartheid era, and finally the period of state capture. The four periods of (in)stability - initial tenuous stability, extreme instability, comprehensive stability, and finally growing instability - differently affected EMNEs' location choices. EMNEs went to proximate developing countries when the home country was relatively stable, but left for host countries in the developed world once the home country became unstable. Few EMNEs capitalized on their experience there once home-country stability returned, instead returning to emerging markets. These patterns are best explained by a portfolio logic that takes into account home-country environmental dynamism.