Strategic Flexibility, Institutional Hardship, and International Expansion Strategy of Chinese New Ventures

What drives the international expansion strategy of Chinese new ventures? By integrating the institution-based view and resource-based view of firm strategy, the authors propose that perceived institutional hardship has negative effects on internationalisation strategies of Chinese new ventures, while a firm’s dynamic capabilities (e.g. strategic flexibility) rather than static ordinary resources (e.g. organisational slack and technological capability) have positive effects. Based on an empirical analysis of 151 new ventures in Zhejiang province in China, the theoretical arguments posited by the authors are strongly supported.