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Institutional Bridging for SME High-Distance Internationalisation to China: A Contextualised Explanation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 July 2019

Carole Couper Open the ORCID record for Carole Couper [Opens in a new window]
Carole Couper*
Affiliation:
Sheffield University Management School, UK
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Abstract

This article offers a contextualised explanation of the process of institutional bridging by Delta, a British SME, in order to internationalise to China across high institutional distance. The study uncovers three novel mechanisms of ‘Cross-institutional Dissonance Mitigation’, ‘Multi-level Strategic Embedding’, and ‘Cross-institutional Consonance Retuning’ to explain how and why a failing SME with limited resources and networks was able to bridge the institutional distance and internationalise to the challenging Chinese market. This article contributes to the literature on SME internationalisation across high institutional distance by opening the ‘black box’ of SME institutional bridging, hence demonstrating the benefits of contextualised explanations to extend research into internationalisation phenomena that span multiple institutional boundaries.

摘要

本文针对德尔塔这家英国中小企业跨越巨大的制度距离进入中国市场而进行的制度连接过程，提供了一个情境化的解释。本研究揭示了“减缓跨制度失调”、“多层次的战略嵌入”和“回归跨制度协调”三种新颖的机制，解释了一个资源和网络有限且面临失败的中小企业怎样以及为什么能够弥合制度距离，通过国际化进入具有挑战性的中国市场。这篇文章表明，情境化解释能够拓展到研究跨越多重制度边界的国际化现象中，为中小企业跨越高制度距离实现国际化方面的文献做出了贡献。

Аннотация

Данная статья предлагает контекстуальное объяснение процесса институционального сближения в британской компании Delta для интернационализации в Китае на большом институциональном расстоянии. Это исследование раскрывает три новых механизма, а именно «Межинституциональное смягчение диссонанса», «Многоуровневое стратегическое встраивание» и «Межинституциональную перенастройку консонанса», чтобы объяснить, как и почему не слишком успешное малое предприятие с ограниченными ресурсами и связями смогло преодолеть институциональное расстояние и выйти на сложный китайский рынок. Эта статья вносит свой вклад в литературу по интернационализации малого и среднего бизнеса на большом институциональном расстоянии, и открывает «черный ящик» институционального сближения в малых и средних предприятиях, и, следовательно, демонстрирует преимущества контекстуальных объяснений для расширения границ исследований в сферу процессов интернационализации, которые охватывают несколько институциональных границ.

Resumen

Este artículo ofrece una explicación contextualizada del proceso de puente institucional de Delta, una pyme británica, con el fin de internacionalizarse a China cruzando una gran distancia institucional. El estudio deja al descubierto tres mecanismos novedosos de “Mitigación de disonancia interinstitucional”, “Inserción estratégica multinivel” y ‘”Re-afinación de consonancia interinstitucional” para explicar cómo y por qué una pyme con recursos y redes limitadas fue capaz de tender un puente a través de la distancia institucional e internacionalizarse al desafiante mercado chino. Este artículo contribuye a la literatura sobre la internacionalización de las pymes a través de una gran distancia institucional al abrir la "caja negra" de la construcción de puentes institucionales de las pymes, demostrando así los beneficios de las explicaciones contextualizadas para ampliar la investigación sobre los fenómenos de la internacionalización que abarcan múltiples fronteras institucionales.

Keywords

contextualised explanationinstitutional bridginginstitutional distanceSME internationalisationUK/China情境化解释制度嫁接制度距离中小企业国际化英国/中国контекстуальное объяснениеинституциональное сближениеинституциональное расстояниеинтернационализация МСПВеликобритания / КитайExplicación contextualizadapuente institucionaldistancia institucionalinternacionalización de la pymeReino Unido/China
Type
Special Issue Articles
Information
Management and Organization Review , Volume 15 , Special Issue 2: Doing Qualitative Research in Emerging Markets , June 2019 , pp. 307 - 340
Copyright
Copyright © The International Association for Chinese Management Research 2019 

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Footnotes

Accepted by: Guest Editor Emmanuella Plakoyiannaki

References

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