An examination of the impact of diverse internationalization experience on organizational resilience and a test of the Resilience Architecture Framework

Abstract

This research aims to improve our understanding of multinational enterprise (MNE) resilience by investigating potential sources of resilience and its performance implications. In particular, this dissertation focuses on two research questions that center on how processual aspects of internationalization affect MNE resilience development and the impact of MNE resilience on performance. Specifically, the research questions ask 1) how the internationalization process contributes to the development of MNE resilience and 2) to what extent MNE resilience relates to performance? In an effort to address these questions, I draw upon the organizational resilience, organizational learning, and internationalization performance literatures to develop a model of MNE resilience that hypothesizes relationships between internationalization experience, MNE resilience, and post-crisis MNE performance maintenance and performance recovery. Latent class analysis, logistic regression, and multiple analysis of covariance procedures were used to analyze data on 109 MNEs with operations in 123 countries. Results suggest that high magnitude of resilience MNEs tend to outperform low magnitude of resilience MNEs following a crisis event and that stakeholder moderate the relationship between magnitude of resilience and MNE performance. This research contributes to the literature by presenting a concept of MNE resilience, linking MNE resilience to performance, and empirically testing the Resilience Architecture Framework.