Internationalization and innovation performance of emerging market enterprises: The role of host-country institutional development

We examine how host-country institutional development influences innovation performance of internationalized emerging market enterprises (EMEs). Our panel-data analysis of Chinese EMEs shows that although host-country institutional development on average enhances innovation performance of the parent, such effects are more pronounced for EMEs with strong absorptive capacity and for those diversifying into a larger number of countries. Interestingly, EMEs with a higher level of state ownership gain more when entering countries with a lower level of institutional development. Our findings offer insights regarding how latecomer EMEs should configure their portfolio of subsidiaries in order to enhance innovation performance of their parent. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.