Corporate Governance of a Multinational Enterprise: Firm, Industry and Institutional Perspectives

OVERVIEW: The objective of this Special Issue is to address theoretical and empirical gaps in prior Finance and International Business (IB) studies associated with corporate governance problems and the effectiveness of governance solutions in the context of multi-national enterprises (MNEs).  The last decade has witnessed significant growth in both policy and research devoted to the corporate governance of MNEs.  While IB and corporate finance research continue to evaluate the challenges facing MNEs in foreign product and capital markets, scholars have yet to adequately address the underlying corporate governance challenges, especially when MNEs operate in different industry and formal regulatory and informal normative and cultural institutional contexts.  We invite submissions with a focus on the complex interface between firm-level governance mechanisms and diverse institutional contexts, including legal, economic, cultural and political institutions, that have a profound impact on various organizational outcomes of MNEs, such as capital structure, global business strategy including, for example, cross-border M&As, non-market strategies, and performance.  This Special Issue will attempt to extend our understanding of governance issues in MNEs to embrace corporate finance, strategy and knowledge dimensions together with contextual issues related to national and global institutions.

TOPICS: The Special Issue welcomes both theoretical and empirical papers.  Topics for the Special Issue can include, but are not limited to:            

• The role of institutions and national business systems in corporate governance of MNEs.
• Complementarities and substitution among governance mechanisms at the firm-, industry- and macro-levels.
• Ownership and control structures in MNEs and their impact on global strategy and performance.
• Institutional voids and governance in global business groups, especially in emerging markets.
• The family-centric governance model in MNEs and its organizational effects.
• The governance role of global financial institutions and institutional investors including private equity and sovereign wealth funds (SWFs).
• The role of political connections and business networks in governance of emerging market MNEs.
• Executive incentives and their performance outcomes in the global business context.
• The role of informal institutions in the governance of MNEs, including normative, cognitive and cultural aspects.
• The inter-relationships between governance, institutions and the capital raising strategies of MNEs.
• The influence of legal and regulatory institutions on the governance of MNEs.
• Institutions, governance, and non-market strategies of MNEs.
• The influence of institutions and industry context on the balance between monitoring, strategic and legitimacy roles of governance in the MNE context.
• The governance aspects of MNEs’ global networks. The headquarter-subsidiary governance relationships.
• The impact of competition in both product and capital markets on governance of MNEs.
• The interactive effects of institutions and the external governance of third party “gatekeepers” (e.g., stock market analysis, bank-underwriters etc.) on MNE outcomes.

PAPER SUBMISSION PROCEDURE:  Authors are asked to submit a full article by February 27, 2017. All submissions must adhere to the Journal of Corporate Finance editorial guidelines (http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-corporate-finance/). The papers will be screened initially by Special Issue’s Editors. The short-listed papers will go through the JCF regular review process according to standard journal policy. The first round of reviews will be followed by a paper development conference that will be held at the University of Georgia campus in Atlanta, Georgia (USA) on August 2-3, 2017.  Acceptance to the conference does not guarantee acceptance into the Special Issue.

DEADLINE: February 27, 2017