Theoretical And Empirical Implications For Research On South-South And South-North Expansion Strategies

Today, research on international expansion strategies is questioned by the significant increase of investment flows from emerging economies' companies towards developed or other emerging markets. Besides North-South investment flows, there is an unprecedented rise of South-North and South-South investment flows. Beyond spectacular acquisitions made in several industries in the United States by Lenovo (PC division of IBM) or in Europe by Zhejiang Geely (Volvo) and Tata (Corus, Jaguar and Land Rover), South-North and more specifically South-South investment flows are protean, can rely on a variety of expansion modes and concern SMEs as well as ‘emerging multinationals'. The development of these new routes for international expansion opens unique research perspectives. Such a research window opens seldom. The last one dates back to the 1990's with the start of the transition process in China and ex-soviet countries, which was followed by an unprecedented rise of North-South investments and investment flows towards emerging countries. This opening of emerging and transition countries has largely contributed to the success of research on international expansion strategies. Therefore, with the acceleration of South-North and South-South investment flows, research on international expansion strategies is currently about to follow a second phase of growth in its life cycle.