What drives internationalization of emerging country multinationals (EMNCs): Towards a conceptual framework

In the last decade there has been growing internationalization of firms from developing economies which has raised interest in understanding the motivation of these emerging economy multinationals (EMNC) to internationalize. However, questions have been raised about the applicability of extant theories to explain and understand EMNC motivation. In this context, this paper argues about the inappropriateness of the integration- responsiveness (IR) framework to explain EMNC strategic orientation and proposes a new framework. Accordingly, EMNC strategic orientation is driven by decisions on two strategic dimensions- choice of foreign market to enter and the requirement to acquire strategic resources abroad. Based on this, the framework proposes four strategic orientations for EMNCs- Market Seeker, Supplier, Resource Acquirer and Reputation Builder.