Seong-Jin Choi

Purpose: In emerging markets, political connections are a common non-market strategy, yet their potential “innovation paradox” remains insufficiently understood. Existing research offers limited empirical evidence on the mechanisms underlying this paradox and its variation across governance and organizational contexts. Therefore, this study aims to examine the impact of political connections on corporate innovation performance and its channel mechanisms, while identifying key factors that moderate this relationship, thereby providing new insights into the “innovation paradox”. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on dynamic capability theory and the non-market perspective, this study uses a regression analysis approach to empirically test hypotheses with panel data from 5,549 Chinese listed companies from 2008 to 2021. Findings: Our findings show that a firm's political connections have a negative influence on its innovation. R&D investment intensity acts as the channel through which political connections affect innovation. In addition, we identify dynamic capabilities and board independence as mechanisms that mitigate the negative effect. Heterogeneity results indicate that the negative impact of political connections on innovation is especially prominent in state-owned and technology-intensive enterprises comparing to non-state-owned and non-technology-intensive enterprises. Originality/value: This study confirms the “innovation paradox” of political ties and clarifies its formation mechanism. We originally identify dynamic capabilities and board independence as crucial mitigating factors, offering new micro-level governance evidence. The findings advise regulators to focus on minimizing rent-seeking and firm management to strategically use these two mechanisms to overcome the innovation costs associated with political connections.

The surge of populism is an increasing trend globally, yet the consequences of populism at the firm level have not been fully analysed. In this paper, we investigate the impact of populism on firm export intensity by analysing a sample of firm‐level panel data including 17,757 firms across 33 emerging economies. In drawing from institutional escapism, we find that greater levels of populism are associated with higher levels of firm export intensity, as firms might view exports as an attractive ‘escape’ mechanism to mitigate the increasing uncertainty in their domestic market. We also find that this relationship is weakened by the level of democracy and strengthened by the extent of investment in political ties with government officials.

This study explores how slack resources can enhance firms’ sustainable competitive advantage by combining economics and organizational behavior within a strategic management framework. Specifically, we examine the relationships between three types of slack resources—available, recoverable, and potential—and three environmental dimensions: munificence, dynamism, and complexity. Our dataset comprises 34,261 observations from 4,045 listed firms across 34 provincial-level administrative regions in China, spanning the years 1993 to 2021. The results indicate that each type of slack resource has an inverted U-shaped relationship with performance, suggesting the existence of a Pareto optimal level of resource allocation. However, this relationship and the position of the Pareto optimal point are not constant. Environmental factors moderate the relationship between slack resources and performance, leading to fluctuations in Pareto optimal values and per-unit value. By expanding and integrating the resource-based view and the structure–conduct–performance paradigm, we explain the relationships between various slack resources and different industrial environments. Based on our findings, we provide suggestions for enhancing sustainable competitive advantage.

Purpose: How much variance in firm performance can be attributed to firms’ corporate political activities (CPA)? Under what conditions does CPA contribute to firm performance? To theorize and empirically tackle these questions, we build on the resource-based view (RBV) to theorize how CPA might improve or hinder firm performance, and specifically examine the direct relationship between firms’ investments in lobbying activities and their performance. We also expect firm growth rate to moderate the relationship between lobbying and performance.Design/methodology/approach: We empirically test our hypotheses using large-scale longitudinal panel data from publicly traded US firms from 2008 to 2018.Findings: Our analyses support our predictions of the double-edged sword effect of lobbying on firm performance. Moreover, our results show that this effect is steeper for firms with higher growth rates.Originality/value: Our study contributes meaningful insights to strategy scholarship on the influence of nonmarket strategies, highlighting the relevance of firm-specific conditions in shaping the performance outcomes of such strategies. In particular, we make a contribution by identifying a nonlinear relationship between lobbying and firm performance, which is amplified in fast-growing firms compared to stagnant ones.

Uncertainty caused by environmental disruptions and unexpected institutional changes critically affect R&D and innovation systems. Motivated by the recent rise of populist political parties worldwide, this study investigates the influence of country‐level populism on firm‐level innovation. Building on institutional theory, we find evidence that higher levels of populism impairs firms' innovation performance by generating institutional volatility. Moreover, this relationship weakens when a firm exports more, and strengthens when a firm is located in a right‐leaning country. We find empirical support for our hypotheses drawing on data from the Global Populism Database and the World Bank Enterprise Survey (24,375 firms from 38 countries). Our findings provide new insights for corporate strategy and R&D activities in unstable and disruptive political contexts.

This multiple regression study investigated the relationship between the political network and the adoption of digital transformation strategy and if moderated by perceived corruption and political ideology of top managers among diverse enterprises in China. The aim of this study is to contribute to strategic management research on non-market factors of digital transformation. The instruments used for the study were political network relationships, digital transformation strategies, perceived corruption, economic conservatism, cultural conservatism, social conservatism, and meritocracy of top managers. A basic regression model is a causality test between the political network and digital transformation. In addition, moderated multiple regression analysis with factor analysis to analyze moderator variables perceived corruption and political ideology and their interaction with the political network and effect on digital transformation. The study included 214 firms as a convenience sample. Practical significance indicates that the firm with a higher level of political network relationships is more likely to conduct digital transformation and the higher level of top manager’s perceived corruption and economic conservatism mitigates the positive impact of the political network on digital transformation, while the higher level of top manager’s meritocracy tendency strengthens the positive impact of the political network on digital transformation.

This study focuses on analysing the heights of 10,953 Korean men aged 20 to 40 years who were measured during the Joseon dynasty, the Japanese colonialisation period, and the contemporary period, the latter including both North and South Korea. This study thus provides rare long-term statistical evidence on how biological living standards have developed over several centuries, encompassing Confucianism, colonialism, capitalism, and communism. Using error bar analysis of heights for each historical sample period, this study confirms that heights rose as economic performance improved. For instance, economically poorer North Koreans were expectedly shorter, by about 6 cm, than their peers living in the developed South. Similarly, premodern inhabitants of present-day South Korea, who produced a gross domestic product (GDP) per capita below the world average, were about 4 cm shorter than contemporary South Koreans, who have a mean income above the world average. Along similar lines, North Koreans, who have a GDP per capita akin to that of the premodern Joseon dynasty, have not improved much in height. On the contrary, mean heights of North Koreans were even slightly below (by about 2.4 cm) heights of Joseon dynasty Koreans. All in all, the heights follow a U-shaped pattern across time, wherein heights were lowest during the colonial era. Heights bounced back to Joseon dynasty levels during the interwar period, a time period where South Korea benefitted from international aid, only to rise again and surpass even premodern levels under South Korea’s flourishing market economy.

This study investigates the relationship between local protectionism and performance of multinational corporation (MNC) subsidiaries in China. We integrate overarching theories (i.e., institutional theory and extended resource-based view) to investigate a model for identifying whether local protectionism at the subnational level is beneficial or detrimental for foreign subsidiary operations or functions as a double-edged sword. We also examine whether or not internal organizational capabilities and relational capital with government moderate the effects. On the basis of regression analyses, our empirical findings reveal that the positive or negative effects of subnational protectionism in China depend on performance types. Moreover, performance contribution is considerably moderated by various internal capabilities of MNC subsidiaries. Findings offer valuable and practical implications for MNCs intending to invest in emerging economies.