A study titled "Behind Emerging Market Firms' Internationalization, Diversification, and Innovation: A Geographic Relational Approach," co-authored by Dr. He Xiaoming from the Department of Business Administration at the School of Business, East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST), has been published online in the prestigious management journal Journal of Management (FT 50). The research was conducted in collaboration with Professor Fan Di from RMIT University in Australia, Dr. Huang Xinli from the University of Sheffield in the UK, and Professor Peng Weigang from the University of Texas at Dallas in the US.

The paper explores the intriguing internationalization paths of emerging market firms, focusing on diversification and innovation, from the perspective of geographic relational theory. Using configurational analysis, the study reveals that these firms can pursue diverse internationalization routes to capture growth opportunities from diversification or innovation. This is achieved through the combination of three attributes: organizational context, international path dependency, and geographic practices. The research further identifies five types of geographic relational configurations: consolidators, niche explorers, global adapters, transnational agents, and strategic aspirants. These findings can help emerging market firms explore their internationalization processes from a geographic relational perspective and more effectively seize growth opportunities.

Dr. He Xiaoming, a faculty member at the Department of Business Administration at ECUST, specializes in resource and capability management, institutional environment, and multinational enterprises.