Sustainability in International Business: Talent Management, Market Entry Strategies, Competitiveness

The increasing velocity of international transactions; the technology-enhanced growing interconnectedness of people, business, and societies; and, finally, the escalating density of the day-to-day business interactions are the key sources of challenges that organizations, both in public and private sectors, are facing today [1,2]. The COVID-19 pandemic aggravated the already existing challenges and spurred a number of new ones. The pandemic and its implications brought rupture into nearly every aspect of our lives and into every dimension of our social, political, and economic systems locally, internationally, and globally, and the rich academic literature attests to that [3,4]. The selection of papers submitted to this Special Issue addresses a great number of these topics, thus giving the reader a useful overview of issues and developments that shape sustainability in international business today. The 15 papers included in this Special Issue, listed beneath, address three interconnected thematic groups: (i) talent management in times of rupture and uncertainty; (ii) market entry strategies; and (iii) current developments and emerging trends.

The discussion on talent management in contemporary organizations starts with the paper by Al Aina and Atan, who explore the impact of talent management practices on sustainable organizational performance. The authors demonstrate that talent attraction and talent retention had no impact on the sustainable organizational performance. However, learning, development, and career management had a significantly positive impact on sustainable organizational performance. In a similar manner, the following paper by Saleh and Atan demonstrates that a link exists between sustainable talent management practices, organizational culture, and employee job satisfaction. By focusing on the case of the higher education sector in North Lebanon, the paper’s findings suggest that a strong and significant positive relationship between the sustainable talent management practices and employee’s job satisfaction exists. Organizational culture is proven to have a mediating effect on these two variables.

The study by Ahmad et al. focuses on work–family conflict (WFC) to suggest that it is a challenge for organizations in emerging markets, where the position and role of women gradually changes. This implies that organizations need to devise a set of tools and practices that would allow a smooth inclusion of women in the formal workforce, while at the same time mitigating the scope and scale of WFC. By means of engaging in a discussion on ways of navigating challenges employees and employers face, Muazzam et al. examine problem-focused coping strategies and their efficiency in addressing work-related strain. The spotlight in the paper is directed at workplace bullying in higher education institutions (HEIs). It is argued that workplace bullying and its implications for absenteeism, turnover, and productivity represents one of the most challenging issues in talent management in HEIs. For this reason, the centrality and effectiveness of problem-focused coping strategies should be more broadly debated.

The second part of this Special Issue addresses the complex questions of market entry strategies under conditions of strain and uncertainty. With reference to Chines household appliance firms, Wu and Wang examine factors determining sustainable entry strategies. The authors argue monopoly firms dominating the new market may not be profitable all the time; however, appropriate competition can bring about a win-win situation. Kwon et al. dwell on the moderating effects of the continental factor on the relation between business strategies (cost advantage strategy and differentiation strategy) of the pharmaceutical industry and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) performance. As the findings of the paper suggest, the moderating effect of the continental factor was beneficial only in relation between the cost advantage strategy and M&A performance. Santos and Dunlap explore which resources are influential in market entry decisions considering that there are different resource needs between developed (DMNEs) and emerging market multinationals (EMNEs). The findings suggest that EMNEs seek out regions with a greater abundance of different resources than DMNEs.

Continuing the discussion on internationalization, resource acquisition, and growth potential of multinational enterprises, Çela et al. examine the internationalization of large companies from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). By focusing explicitly on CEE, this paper determines the main factors that positively influence firms’ internationalization. The main findings derived from this study show that firm characteristics, such as age, size, and corporate performance, have a positive effect on the internationalization process. An increase in age, size, and firm performance leads to higher levels of internationalization. Larger and relatively older firms have access to more resources and are more experienced in dealing with the environmental difficulties characteristic of these countries.

The third group of papers included in this Special Issue offers an insight into current developments and emerging trends in international business. Malik et al. shed light on the concepts of the platform and the gig economy to, on the one hand, delineate their conceptual boundaries and, on the other hand, to critically review the existing literature. The key findings of this paper reveal that while research on the gig economy proliferates, the distinction between the “platform” and “gig” economies frequently remains blurred in the analysis. Moreover, the discussion on gig economy is largely dispersed, and a clearer research agenda is needed to streamline the discussion to improve its exploratory and explanatory potential. In what follows, Belascu et al. discuss performance dissimilarities in European Union (EU) manufacturing by focusing on ownership and technological intensity. The results of the study show that EU foreign-owned businesses dominate locally owned ones in terms of size. This gives them an edge in obtaining higher profits, cash flow, and investments and coping with higher personnel costs. Furthermore, ownership is a more important differentiator of performance at the industry level than the industry’s technological level. The notion of performance and competitiveness feature prominently in the paper by Dziembała , who examines determinants of competitiveness in Central and Eastern Europe. Competitiveness is explored also by Farinha et al., who discuss competitiveness as it applies to the tourism industry in the Algarve region in the south of Portugal. By examining the diverse stakeholders’ perceptions of the issues, the authors conclude that a convergent perspective regarding sustainability challenges, namely, natural resources and biodiversity, safety, and supply chains exist. However, hotels and restaurants do not reflect the same perception regarding sustainability initiatives, e-tourism, or free Internet access. These divergences are essential results since they indicated which issues require local authorities’ priority intervention. Hunjra et al. examine the moderating effect of institutional quality on the financial development and environmental quality. As the authors argue, there is a lack of knowledge as to how countries can achieve the goal to end poverty, whilst protecting the planet. The findings of this study suggest that countries in South Asia have utilized financial development for capitalization, instead of improving production technology. Institutional quality moderates the negative impact of financial development on environmental sustainability. Access to finance remains the most salient topic in research on small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The specificity of the challenge, and ways of mitigating it in Pakistan, are explored by Ahmad et al. The Special Issue closes with the paper by Bodziany et al. that examines the business sector, especially SMEs’, response to COVID-19.

List of Contributions:

• Al Aina, R.; Atan, T. The Impact of Implementing Talent Management Practices on Sustainable Organizational Performance.
• Saleh, R.; Atan, T. The Involvement of Sustainable Talent Management Practices on Employee’s Job Satisfaction: Mediating Effect of Organizational Culture.
• Ahmad, M.; Muazzam, A.; Anjum, A.; Visvizi, A.; Nawaz, R. Linking Work-Family Conflict (WFC) and Talent Management: Insights from a Developing Country.
• Muazzam, A.; Anjum, A.; Visvizi, A. Problem-Focused Coping Strategies, Workplace Bullying, and Sustainability of HEIs.
• Wu, Y.; Wang, S. Sustainable Market Entry Strategy under a Supply Chain Environment.
• Kwon, J.; Kim, C.; Lee, K.C. Moderating Effect of the Continental Factor on the Business Strategy and M&A Performance in the Pharmaceutical Industry for Sustainable International Business.
• Santos, R.S.; Dunlap, D.R. 51 Flavors: Regional Resource Configurations and Foreign Multinational Market Entry in the U.S. Biopharmaceutical Industry.
• Çela, A.; Hysa, E.; Voica, M.C.; Panait, M.; Manta, O. Internationalization of Large Companies from Central and Eastern Europe or the Birth of New Stars.
• Malik, R.; Visvizi, A.; Skrzek-Lubasińska, M. The Gig Economy: Current Issues, the Debate, and the New Avenues of Research.
• Belascu, L.; Horobet, A.; Vrinceanu, G.; Popescu, C. Performance Dissimilarities in European Union Manufacturing: The Effect of Ownership and Technological Intensity.
• Dziembała, M. The Enhancement of Sustainable Competitiveness of the CEE Regions at the Time of the COVID-19 Pandemic Instability.
• Farinha, F.; Bienvenido-Huertas, D.; Duarte Pinheiro, M.; Silva, E.M.J.; Lança, R.; José Oliveira, M.; Batista, R. Sustainable Competitiveness of Tourism in the Algarve Region. Critical Stakeholders’ Perception of the Supply Sector.
• Hunjra, A.I.; Tayachi, T.; Chani, M.I.; Verhoeven, P.; Mehmood, A. The Moderating Effect of Institutional Quality on the Financial Development and Environmental Quality Nexus.
• Ahmad, S.; Tayachi, T.; Haq, S.G.; Wang, W.; Ahmad, F. Entrepreneurial Specific Characteristics and Access to Finance of SMEs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
• Bodziany, M.; Ścibiorek, Z.; Zamiar, Z.; Visvizi, A. Managerial Competencies & Polish SMEs’ Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Insight.