Emerging market multinationals and their cross-border acquisitions: Global and regional challenges

The aim of this chapter is to take stock of what we know about cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) by emerging market firms with a special focus on their M&A activity in economically advanced markets. A recent upsurge in cross-border acquisitions has attracted much media attention as acquisitions have not only been emerging market firms’ preferred mode of global expansion but are also currently considered a tool for achieving global and regional dominance. Research on this phenomenon is still in its infant stages and is comprised of inconsistent and sometimes contradictory explanations and findings. Moreover, emerging market multinationals expanding into economically advanced markets are confronted with numerous obstacles, with their country of origin, local resistance, and general suspicion becoming liabilities. Yet most research has taken the point of view of the recipients of emerging market multinationals’ investments with little concern about emerging market multinationals’ challenges. This literature review is aimed at summarizing past research on emerging market multinationals’ cross-border M&As and, along with that, zooming in on the challenges encountered as a way of potentially improving emerging market multinationals’ image among global investors and increasing their chances of successful international expansion via cross-border M&As. We advocate the application of signaling theory as a theoretical tool to gain a more detailed understanding of emerging market multinationals’ investment behavior.