As I complete my third year as Editor-in-Chief of MOR and begin planning for my second term, I wanted to take the opportunity to express my appreciation and thanks for your support of MOR. Although MOR has expanded its editorial context to all transforming economies, China remains the core constituency of the journal.

The first five merger waves were US-led events. In this article we show that the largely over-looked sixth wave (2003–2008) emerged in all regions simultaneously. Because of this, and building upon interconnected literatures – which: (1) suggests that agency is a big predictor of merger performance; (2) distinguishes between three distinct governance traditions; and (3) argues that the Anglo-Saxon system puts the most effort into protecting investors and aligning interests, and the Confucian system the least – we predicted that Anglo-Saxon acquirers would create value in the sixth wave, and Confucian acquirers would destroy it. We find the opposite to be true and show that Chinese acquirers, in particular, created the most value in the sixth wave. In attempting to explain why, we find that China outperformed its Asian neighbors while doing the same thing, and outperformed its Western peers while doing what the literature suggests that they shouldn't do. This not only points to the limits of the generalizability of the existing literature, but supports the suggestion that Chinese acquirers are ‘different’. We call, therefore, for additional research into understanding Chinese and Confucian acquirers using the standard comparative merger data.

Although McCarthy, Dolfsma, and Weitzel (2016) cover much ground in their study, in this commentary I focus on alternative explanations for the empirical results indicating that Chinese acquirers outperformed acquirers from other countries – particularly acquirers from the United States. First, based on research I have done with colleagues (e.g., Chen & Young, 2010; Young & McGuinness, 2001) and that of a doctoral student (Tang, 2016), I suggest that comparison of Chinese stock market reactions to merger announcements with stock market reactions to merger announcements from more mature markets, such as the United States, may create some misleading results. The Event Study Method (ESM) used in this study is a measure of investors’ short-term reactions to unanticipated events and it assumes that investors are capable of accurately evaluating such events (MacKinlay, 1997; McWilliams & Siegel, 1997). I suggest that, given the relative newness of Chinese stock markets, Chinese investors may have reacted more positively to merger announcements regardless of the mergers’ prospects for success. Second, similar to Shapiro and Li (2016), I suggest that stages of industry and organizational development better explain the actual motivation and success of Chinese acquirers than does a general theory of culture or corporate governance traditions.

McCarthy, Dolfsma, and Weitzel (2016) raise the important and interesting question of why what the authors refer to as Confucian acquirers, and in particular Chinese acquirers, tended to create value over the last decade relative to Western companies. The analysis by McCarthy et al. (2016), while restricted to an empirical examination of mergers and acquisitions, calls into question the general relevance and validity of standard, Western-based economic and strategic thinking, and calls for further research into the nature of Chinese and Confucian thought and the degree to which they contribute to our understanding of merger outcomes in China, and perhaps elsewhere. At the most general level, McCarthy et al. (2016) challenge us to consider the question of whether different conceptual foundations are necessary to understand the behaviour and performance of Chinese and other Asian firms. At the heart of this question is the issue of whether there are unique country effects, or group-of-country effects, that determine to a substantial degree firm performance, and if so, what is the nature of these effects?

We synthesize the literature on Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs) and find that much of the prior research is based on as few as a dozen case studies of Chinese firms. They are so case-specific that it has led to a misplaced call for new theories to explain Chinese firms’ internationalization. In an attempt to better relate theory with empirical evidence, we examine the largest 500 Chinese manufacturing firms. We aim to find out the number of Chinese manufacturing firms to be true MNEs by definition, and to examine their financial performance relative to global peers using the financial benchmarking method. We develop our theoretical perspectives from new internalization theory. We find that there are only 49 Chinese manufacturing firms to be true MNEs, whereas the rest are purely domestic firms. Their performance is poor relative to global peers. Chinese MNEs have home country bound firm-specific advantages (FSAs), which are built upon home country-specific advantages (home CSAs). They have not yet developed advanced management capabilities through recombination with host CSAs. Essentially, they acquire foreign firms to increase their sales in domestic market, but they fail to be competitive internationally and to achieve superior performance in overseas operations. Our findings have important strategic implications for managers, public policy makers, and academic research.

Drawing insights from the institutional embeddedness perspective, this article explores the changing patterns and significance of two types of strategic networking along with the institutional transformation in China. Using two-wave survey data on Chinese private firms, we find that after the state relaxed its control of resources the importance of networking with the state tends to decline, while ties with market actors become increasingly important. Determinants of network investment have shifted from managers’ perceived importance of different types of network ties to a firm's immediate institutional environment. Finally, the impact of networking on firm growth has also altered over time. These findings advance our understanding of the crucial role of the institutional environment in shaping firms’ networking strategies and have important theoretical and practical implications.

Chinese new ventures have two principal approaches to resource integration: the stabilizing approach, which makes minor changes to a firm's current resource bundles, or the pioneering approach, which creates new capabilities. Two characteristics of Chinese entrepreneurial environment are distinct: environmental dynamism (uncertain markets, unstable institutions and the rapid technology upgrading) and munificence (the degree of competitive intensity and resource abundance). This study suggests that environmental dynamism and environmental munificence moderate the relationships between resource integration approaches and competitive advantage. Results based on a study of 410 Chinese new ventures show that both stabilizing and pioneering approaches to resource integration positively influence new ventures’ competitive advantage under the condition of low environmental dynamism and either high or low environmental munificence. However, neither stabilizing nor pioneering approaches have a significant effect on new ventures’ competitive advantage under the condition of low environmental munificence and high environmental dynamism. Only the pioneering approach has a positive effect on new ventures’ competitive advantage under the condition of high environmental munificence and high environmental dynamism.

In this study, we examine the effect of institutional ownership on corporate philanthropy in China, an emerging economy. Employing stakeholder identification and salience theory, we posit that institutional ownership positively influences corporate philanthropy, which varies for different types of institutional investors. We further argue that institutional ownership's influence is stronger when philanthropy is aligned with firm goals. Using data from Chinese publicly listed firms, we find a positive effect of institutional ownership on philanthropy, and this effect is stronger for domestic institutional owners when compared to foreign institutional owners, and long-term when compared to short-term institutional owners. We also find that the positive influence of institutional ownership is stronger in private firms and in regions with low institutional development – situations characterizing high alignment between philanthropy and firm goals. Our findings highlight the important role of institutional investors on corporate philanthropy decisions, which have implications for scholars studying and policy makers enacting corporate governance in emerging economies.

An increasing body of research has applied an institutional perspective to understand actors’ responses to conflicting institutional logics and the creation process of new organizational forms. Although China provides a natural, real-time laboratory to study this topic, scant empirical research has been done. Moreover, we find it is insufficient to apply current frameworks, which have been mainly driven by studies conducted in Western contexts, to study actors’ responses to institutional multiplicity in China, especially in its emerging non-profit sector. This article fills research gaps by providing an in-depth case analysis of the creation and legitimation process of the One Foundation – the first independent charity foundation established by civic individuals in China. Our study shows that the coexisting and competing relationship among state, civil society, social mission, and market logics provides impetus for organizational change and innovation. This article theorizes a temporal model by showing that actors seek provisional solutions in different organizational stages and gradually develop capabilities to progress institutional work from individual to organizational and to societal level to achieve their goals. By showing how a charity foundation plays a role as a change agent, this article also sheds light on the condition and process that drive innovation in China's non-profit sector.

This Management and Organization Review (MOR) special issue on ‘Coopetition and Innovation in Transforming Economies’ aims to explore key features of the strategic relationship between coopetition and innovation in transforming economies. It is generally accepted that innovation can be a fundamental driver for economic growth, new sources of employment, and dwindling economic disparity. However, increasingly activities of innovation no longer take place primarily within the firm but are often the outcome of the overall set of relationships of the firm. The two phenomena of competition and cooperation have become more and more inter-related, thus creating new opportunities, affecting innovation and change. This reality is of special interest in the context of transforming economies’ transition to higher value adding economic growth and development due to, for example, the specific moderating or mediating role of national cultures and philosophical inspiration (e.g., Taoism, Confucianism, Hinduism, and Buddhism) in shaping the coopetitive mindset (Dagnino, Di Guardo, & Padula, 2012) and the potential differentiation between countries and regional ecologies.