Professor, International Business & General Management
Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada Fellow of the Academy of International Business Director, International Business Institute Donald L. Triggs Chair in International Business
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Paul Beamish has authored over 59 books and 136 journal articles. His books are in the areas of International Management, Strategic Management, and Joint Ventures and Alliances. His articles have appeared in Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of International Business Studies (JIBS), and elsewhere. He served as Editor-in-Chief of JIBS from 1993-97 and is on numerous editorial boards. He is a Research Fellow of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.
Professor Beamish has supervised 34 PhD dissertations, many involving International Joint Ventures and Alliances. His consulting, management training, and joint venture facilitation activities have been in both the public and private sector. These have taken place in over a dozen countries for such organizations as Boeing, Canadian Foreign Service Institute, Cisco, Dupont, Harvard Institute for International Development, Hayes-Dana, Labatt/Interbrew, Schneider, and Valmet. He worked for Procter and Gamble and Wilfrid Laurier University before joining Ivey's faculty in 1987. He is the founder of The 39 Country Initiative.
Beamish has authored over 135 case studies, primarily in the international management area. These have appeared in Asian Case Research Journal, Case Research Journal, and in over 120 books. His cases have been among Ivey's top external sellers in each of the past ten years. He is recipient of best case writing awards from the European Foundation for Management Development, AIB, and ASAC.
Professor Beamish (Bao Ming Xin in Chinese) has worked on Asia-specific issues for many years. He has written case studies and/or conducted research involving China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam. He has served as a consultant to The World Bank on technology transfer to China, provided training programs in Asia for Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, and co-edited a series of casebooks published in Chinese by Tsinghua University Press. He is series editor for 16 volumes of cases for the China market available in both English and Chinese and 10 volumes in Taiwan. His Asia-related books include Japanese Subsidiaries in the New Global Economy (Edward Elgar), Cooperative Strategies: Asian-Pacific Perspectives (published by The New Lexington Press), and Japanese Multinationals in the Global Economy (Edward Elgar).
He was the founding Director at Ivey of both the Asian Management Institute (1997) and the Engaging Emerging Markets Research Centre (2005). These were both folded into the International Business Institute (2016).
Teaching
International Management Theory and Research (PhD)
International Joint Ventures and Alliances (MSc)
Strategic Management/Business Policy (MBA and Undergraduate)
Multinational Enterprise Strategies/International Business (Executive MBA, HK EMBA, MBA and Undergraduate)
Abstract: This essay focuses on the transference of a business education practice common in the West – the use of the case method – to the East (specifically China). It is framed according to Rogers’ ‘Diffusion of Innovation’ model. Selective innovation examples from 21 case studies across 15 “contextual” themes are presented. They include specific reference to theories, models, and cultural traditions from various countries in the east. Milestones are reviewed regarding the introduction of the case method which were initiated in China. The paper argues that China has completed the early majority stage in terms of the diffusion of the case method in its business schools.
Abstract: This study investigates how Japanese MNEs are adapting their ownership choices to accommodate China’s economic liberalization. Drawing upon the institution-based view of the firm, we propose an institutional response model that is simultaneously based on the progress of economic liberalization and the accumulation of subsidiary experience. This model suggests that Japanese MNEs increasingly adopt higher ownership levels in their subsidiaries because of the combined effects of deepening deregulation on foreign investments, declining pure uncertainty, and increasing contingent uncertainty during economic liberalization. It also suggests that the progress of economic liberalization continuously changes the combination of the two types of institutional uncertainty (pure and contingent), contextualizing the influence of subsidiary experience on Japanese MNEs’ ownership choices. Using data for Japanese investments in China between 1991 and 2013, we construct a latent growth-curve model to provide empirical evidence for the proposed institutional response model.
Abstract: Multinational firms often make multiple investments over time in a concentrated set of countries, accumulating superior knowledge and capabilities in these environments. Researchers have nonetheless uncovered factors that can lead firms to deviate from strategic trajectories defined by their prior investments. In a statistical analysis of country entry decisions by Japanese manufacturing firms over a 35-year period, we found that firms’ tendencies to re-invest in the same host countries were smaller for horizontal (i.e. market-seeking) investments but greater for vertical (i.e. efficiency-seeking) investments. We also found that organizational capabilities influence the geographic trajectory of international expansion: firms with stronger marketing and production capabilities were less likely to be influenced by the locations of prior entries and were more likely to invest in new countries.
Research summary: This study examines strategic and resource contingencies that shape MNEs’ country location choices. Our analysis of overseas production investments by Japanese firms (19712006) finds that differences in investment motives (i.e. horizontal and vertical investment) and corporate capabilities (i.e. marketing and production capabilities) moderate how prior entries into a host country affect subsequent entry decisions. In general, the positive impact of prior entries on investment in a country is weaker for horizontal investments and stronger for vertical investments. A more nuanced relationship emerges when entry decisions are analyzed in conjunction with heterogeneous corporate marketing and production capabilities. The study illustrates the novel insights to be gained from analyzing the joint impact of path dependence, managerial intentions, and corporate capabilities on country location decisions.
Abstract: We examine how organizational ecology and the strategic choice perspective can be combined to provide more contextualized insights into how multinational corporations (MNCs) can better counter environmental pressures with evolving subnational FDI legitimacy and improve the survival likelihood of their subsidiaries. We consider three organizational identity-based strategic choices, i.e., country-of-origin (COO) agglomeration, expatriate staffing level and subsidiary ownership level. We hypothesize a U-shaped relationship between FDI legitimacy and subsidiary mortality, and that this relationship will be moderated by the level of COO agglomeration at a subnational level. We also hypothesize that with improving FDI legitimacy, the use of higher levels of expatriates and ownership will jeopardize the survival of larger subsidiaries. A longitudinal dataset (2001–2016) for 3,025 subsidiaries formed by 1,147 Japanese MNCs in China was used in hypothesis testing. Results largely supported our hypotheses. We discuss how an identity-centered approach can contribute to theory and practice.
Abstract: MNEs use the regional aggregation and integration of their FDIs as an important part of their internationalization. However, little work has focused on explaining the extent of this regional integration. We develop and test new hypotheses about MNEs’ general international experience and international geographic scope (i.e., institutional diversity and international dispersion) as predictors of their extent of regional integration. The results from a sample of Japanese MNEs validate these effects, suggesting these MNE level variables are important for regional influences on their internationalization decisions. The results further our understanding of how MNEs organize their internationalization and strategic geographic foci.
Abstract: In “Joint Ventures in China Face New Rules of the Game” (1997), de Bruijn and Jia examined the evolving nature of joint venturing in China, arguing that economic and legal changes would impact existing and planned joint ventures. Indeed, the joint venture landscape in China has changed dramatically in the past 20+ years. In fact, it is hard to think of any country that has seen such dramatic and sustained growth. This brief commentary highlights some of de Bruijn and Jia’s major insights and considers how things are continuing to change.
Abstract: While extant theory suggests that the pervasiveness of host market government corruption should influence the equity ownership decisions of foreign-investing multinational enterprises (MNEs), empirical research has produced inconclusive results. We leverage insights from transaction cost economics to advance an uncertainty-oriented framework which can be used to explain the impact of host market government corruption on the equity-based entry strategies of MNEs. We disaggregate government corruption into two distinct components (grand corruption and petty corruption). We propose that grand and petty corruption precipitate different types of uncertainty (environmental and behavioral) which motivate MNEs to vary their equity-based foreign entry strategies (entry mode and partnering). Hypotheses pertaining to the entry strategies of MNEs under conditions of more pervasive grand and petty corruption are developed and tested with a sample of 643 Japanese investments in 30 countries between 2004 and 2007. We find that the main effect of grand corruption and the interaction between grand and petty corruption significantly impact a MNE’s entry mode. Further, while more pervasive grand corruption increases the likelihood that a MNE will engage in a joint venture investment with a host country partner, we find that an increase in petty corruption heightens a MNE’s preference to invest with a home country partner.
Abstract: Management education in Africa’s poorest countries suffers from the greatest resource constraints of any continent on earth. At least three major challenges exist: lack of current teaching material; very expensive books/photocopies, making an insufficient quantity of materials available; and too few qualified faculty.
In 2010, the Ivey Business School at Western University in Canada established a three-pronged strategy to help improve management education in 39 of the world’s poorest countries. Of these, 32 are in Africa. The primary purpose of its approach is poverty reduction. It is premised on the belief that if managers and entrepreneurs can make more sound business decisions, failures will decline, and prosperity will increase. The viability of all three elements of the strategy has been proved in various Ivey initiatives over the past 20 years in different geographies.
This article reviews the history of the 39 Country Initiative to date in relation to Africa, provides some ideas about the way forward, and some personal observations.
Abstract: When war occurs in a country, some foreign MNEs stay on, while others flee. We argue that MNE responses to external threats depend on the firm’s vulnerability, which we decompose into exposure (proximity to threat), at-risk resources (potential for loss), and resilience (capacity for coping). We test the independent and interactive effects of these dimensions using a geo-referenced sample of 1,162 MNE subsidiaries in 20 war-afflicted countries over 19872006. We find that highly valuable resources can become liabilities when exposed to harm, and the best way to cope with external threats may be to exit. Our findings extend the resource based view and real options theory by demonstrating the bounded value of resources and options in the face of environmental contingencies.
Abstract: This study contributes to the literature on global boundary spanning by taking a learning perspective that positions the boundary spanner as an active change agent. Grounded in a practice-based theory of knowledge, it considers boundary spanning as the negotiation of knowledge and relationships across fields of practice. We argue that global boundary spanning is a long-term commitment to help internal members become aware of foreign knowledge practices, see these practices as valuable, and adopt them internally. We frame the activities of the boundary spanner within a scaffolding framework that theorizes boundary spanning as a combination of ability, persistent willingness, and opportunity. Here scaffolding refers to the cognitive, relational, and material supports enacted by boundary spanners that facilitate organization members’ engagement in practices that allow for the awareness, capacity building, and commitment to adoption of foreign practices. We draw on interviews from international returnee managers employed in large Korean financial firms.
Abstract: This study examines how the decision to enter African markets relates to the exit probability of MNE subsidiaries. Using a longitudinal, paired-sample design of Japanese foreign subsidiaries operating in Africa and OECD countries, we find that entry to Africa increases the hazard rate of subsidiaries, but that subsidiaries entering with more diverse investment purposes and greater market-seeking orientation have a better survival likelihood. Consistent with the institutional-based theory of corporate diversification, our findings introduce purpose diversity and market-seeking orientation as potential mechanisms to mitigate the hazards of institutional voidsinstability. Also, by looking at the phenomenon of within-subsidiary diversity (of purposes) and its interaction with institutional conditions, we advance the notion of subsidiary scope and its implications.
Abstract: In multinational enterprises (MNEs), regional management centres (RMCs) most frequently take the form of either dedicated regional headquarters (RHQs) or regional management mandates (RMMs) assigned to operating subsidiaries. We identify a series of critical differences in characteristics and performance between RHQs and RMMs, using a longitudinal sample of 855 Japanese RMCs across 41 countries. We also investigate parent-level differences between MNEs with distinct RMC configurations. We propose a structural complement to regional strategy extensions of the integration-responsiveness framework, and provide an important large sample baseline, aiding new theoretical and empirical research into MNE regional management strategy and structure.
Abstract: International business research is only beginning to develop theory and evidence highlighting the importance of supranational regional institutions to explain firm internationalization. In this context, we offer new theory and evidence regarding the effect of a region’s institutional complexity on FDI decisions by multinational enterprises (MNEs). We define a region’s institutional complexity using two components, regional institutional diversity and number of countries. We explore the unique relationships of both components with MNEs’ decisions to internationalize into countries within the region. Drawing on semiglobalization and regionalization research and institutional theory, we posit an inverted U-shaped relationship between a region’s institutional diversity and MNE internationalization: extremely low or high regional institutional diversity has negative effects on internationalization, but moderate diversity has a positive effect on internationalization. Larger numbers of countries within the region reduces MNE internationalization in a linear fashion. We find support for these predicted relationships in multi-level analyses of 698 Japanese MNEs operating in 49 countries within nine regions. Regional institutional complexity is both a challenge and an opportunity for MNEs seeking advantages through the aggregation and arbitrage of individual country factors.
Abstract: Drawing on internalization theory and economic geography research, we examine how the spatial structure of MNE subsidiaries in supranational regions affects subsidiary location choices. Our analysis of foreign production investments by Japanese manufacturing firms from 1971-2006 supports our theoretical predictions: firms were more likely to establish new production subsidiaries in countries geographically more proximate to existing production subsidiaries, but not to trading subsidiaries, in the same region. The proximity effect diminished for production subsidiaries engaged in accessing natural resources or R&D. Performance of production subsidiaries was also stronger for those closer to other production subsidiaries in the same region.
Abstract: Consistent with the knowledge-based view of the firm, capability augmentation in the multinational corporation (MNC) entails the adaptation and diffusion of knowledge within a network of globally dispersed subsidiaries. We used case study methodology to examine the transfer of knowledge practices within four MNCs in order to identify specific mechanisms through which social context impacts efficiency and effectiveness of transfer, as well as the resulting development of associated capabilities. The primary findings of this study are the identification of mechanisms that headquarters can use to create mutual interdependencies among subsidiaries, which in turn hasten capability development and enhance knowledge flow and the mutually constructive roles of knowledge transfer and shared context, through promotion of organizational knowledge use, and the facilitating role of communication technologies. The manner in which these coordination and control mechanisms are implemented facilitates the integration of different units within the networked MNC.
Professor Beamish received the International Management Eminent Scholar Award 2017 and Outstanding Educator Award 2012, from the Academy of Management.
He has received best research paper awards from the Academy of Management, the Academy of International Business (AIB), and the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada (ASAC).
In 2017, he was recognized by Journal of International Business Studies as the fifth most published author in the history of the journal, in 2014 by Management International Review as the fifth most prolific contributor to the IB literature between 1995-2011, in 2010 by International Business Review as the second most productive I.B. scholar in the 1996-2008 period, and in 1997 and 2003 by the Journal of International Management as one of the top three contributors worldwide to the international strategic management literature in the previous decade.
Experience
Full Professor, since 1996; Tenured, 1990; Associate Professor, effective July 1989; Assistant Professor, July 1987-June 1989.
Assistant Professor, School of Business and Economics, Wilfrid Laurier University, Dec. 1984-June 1987; Lecturer, July 1982-Dec. 1984.
Proprietor - Nomad Trading Company, 1977-90.
Manager, Comptroller’s Division - The Procter and Gamble Company of Canada Ltd., 1976-1979.
