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The discourse on global value chains (GVC) is undergoing a transformation in terms of its conceptualisation, theorisation and pragmatic applications. Today, the production systems have become more complex as global economic order continues to witness marked geo-economic manoeuvring. Thus, the direction of discourse on GVC ought to move from mere theoretical propositions toward becoming more evidence based. There have been recent studies that have used the governance and upgrading propositions by Gary Gereffi and others to seek quantitative evidence. This study aims to decipher the quantitative discourse on GVC and to set the emerging and future research agenda.

Through a systematic literature review, the authors first analyse the quantitative studies on GVC carried out during the last two decades. The authors then outline a future research agenda and examine a few relevant modelling techniques that could potentially be used to solicit newer evidence in GVC research.

The authors categorise the quantitative discourse on GVC into three crucial themes, namely, GVC framework, GVC participation and position, environmental aspects and regionalisation in GVC. The most commonly used quantitative techniques are gravity model, panel data estimation, structural decomposition analysis and computable general equilibrium modelling.

This paper contributes to the GVC discourse in two ways. Firstly, the authors argue that the theoretical frameworks within the GVC discourse should be complemented by evidence-based quantitative studies. Secondly, the authors suggest potential modelling techniques that can be used on the emerging and future research agenda.

In this paper, a review of materials selection methods is presented. It initially discusses the importance of materials selection in various fields of scientific study particularly in engineering design. Various tools and methods for the selection of materials are reviewed. These include materials handbook, materials data‐bases, materials selection charts, artificial intelligence systems, and other computeraided materials selection systems.

The purpose of this paper is to reveal how the host and the home countries’ formal institutions may affect mergers and acquisitions (M&A) abandonment by Russian multinational enterprises (MNEs), and how MNE industry can influence the results. The second objective of the study is to have a separate look at the negative experience, and to uncover its influence on M&A deal completion.

In the study, a sample of 446 international M&A deals initiated by Russian MNEs in the period of 2000–2014 is empirically tested by means of logistic regression analysis.

The empirical analysis indicates that better business environment in the host country is crucially important whereas development of business freedom at home may make the international M&A less attractive and increases the likelihood of M&A deal abandonment. Thus, the larger the institutional distance by this indicator the more likelihood the deal is completed. Contrary results are implied for property rights: the larger the distance between Russia and host country, the lower likelihood of M&A deal completion. Failure experience decreases the likelihood of acquisition completion whereas international experience increases.

The study has number of limitations: individual-level variables were not included in the model; and a limited number of factors were tested due to availability of data and moderate sample size.

The study indicates that better development of business freedom and moderate property rights protection in the host country are the most favorable factors for an M&A deal completion. Russian policymakers should realize that development of property rights protection in Russia ensures success of MNEs abroad, and development of business freedom reduces the outflow of capital from the economy.

The paper makes several theoretical and practical contributions: it contributes to institutional international business literature, indicating in which particular cases institutional distance has positive or negative effect on M&A completion. It also contributes to organizational learning literature, confirming that failures inhibit learning, and firms tend to repeat previous mistakes. Finally, the paper widens the scarce research on Russian MNEs, and on the role of the home country institutions for MNE’s behavior abroad.

This paper aims to explore the underlying reasons for business model change among internationalizing SMEs and illustrate how home market context affects that change.

This is a comparative case study of two companies with similar backgrounds from different countries of origin. In each case, the data were collected by means of in-depth interviews with key informants. For its theoretical background, the study draws on the business model innovation and international business literature.

The authors found that home market context has two kinds of effect on business model change in internationalizing SMEs. First, home market maturity has a strong effect on the timing of companies’ internationalization efforts. Second, the company’s home market can either be used to strengthen the value proposition or may be disguised, depending on how the country of origin is seen in international markets. This factor has a strong influence on how SMEs change their business model when internationalizing.

The study’s limitations relate to its qualitative and exploratory nature. Future research should further assess the generalizability of these findings across different cultural contexts and countries of origin by quantifying the central concepts and examining how they relate to larger-scale cross-national and cross-sectional panel data.

As internationalization increasingly poses both threats and opportunities, companies must be able to experiment with business models when necessary to adapt to the host market. In so doing, it is also important to consider how a company’s home market affects business model change.

This is one of the first studies to illustrate how the process of internationalization drives SMEs to change their business models. As such, the paper enhances existing understanding of business model change in the context of internationalization. To our knowledge, no previous study has described these dynamics in a comparative context that takes account of SME country of origin.