In this study, we examine whether eco-innovators are more prone to abandoning innovation projects, i.e., failure, compared to conventional innovators and whether this has implications for their propensity to export. Applying parametric and non-parametric estimation methods to a panel of 12,000 firms in Spain during 2008-2016, we find that eco-innovators are indeed more likely to experience failure through innovation abandonment compared to conventional innovators. Furthermore, our results suggest that eco-innovators with past experience in abandoning innovation projects are more likely to export compared to eco-innovators without such experience, which we argue is due to learning from abandonment. While we show that this latter learning effect on exporting is similar for conventional innovators, our first result implies that eco-innovators are, however, more likely to experience the opportunity to learn from abandonment. We argue that this enhances eco-innovators’ relative export propensity and thus serves as a mechanism that may explain the recent result in the literature that eco-innovators are more likely to export than conventional innovators.

Internationalisation is a complex process during which companies search for and exploit new opportunities in foreign markets. Although internationalisation can be very lucrative, it can also pose various risks to companies, which are multiplied in the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) business environment. This study focuses on the influence of network relationships on internationalisation failure among Estonian companies. Based on an exploratory case study of three SMEs, we found that network-based failure accumulates over time and it is accompanied with various emotions. Emotions experienced by the entrepreneurs may result in non-rational decision making and either too slow or too rapid reactions, both of which can lead to either near-failure or complete failure.

Foreign divestment research has failed to come to a consensus regarding shareholders’ value creation, especially using long-term measures. This study investigates the relationship between foreign divestment and the shareholders’ value creation. Using a large sample of Nordic firms over the period from 1999 to 2019, we find a positive correlation between foreign divestment and shareholders’ value creation. In doing so, this study challenges the existing foreign divestment theory that FD takes place when one or more of the original investment motives are lost. This study employs both traditional, logarithmic excess stock returns, and recently introduced, long-term investor value appropriation (LIVA) to measure and proxy shareholders’ value. We further discover that the relationship between foreign divestment and value creation for shareholders is moderated by the age of divested foreign subsidiary. These findings are broadly consistent with the foreign divestment theory, indicating that the absence of OLI advantages that were once beneficial to firms can prompt the divestment of foreign subsidiaries.

De-internationalization decisions hold pivotal relevance amidst contemporary volatility, yet limited research scrutinizes configurations compelling strategic retreat versus forced exit. This study examines how sanction-induced deficiencies in knowledge management and networking capabilities disrupt the internationalization of micro-multinationals (mMNEs) lacking adaptation agility. Adopting a configurational lens, conceptual models map interdependencies across eight insufficient knowledge infrastructures and processes alongside eight disrupted cross-border relationships obstructing learning and fracturing partnerships. Multi-criteria optimization then reveals configurations of two knowledge and two networking gaps predicting disappointed, disinterested, disregarded, and displaced pathways. Findings expose cascading ripple effects from stunted internal knowledge flows to severed external ties, forcing a full market withdrawal. By tracing combinations instigating incremental retreat to outright eviction, a configurational theory emerges explaining nonlinear de-internationalization. Typologies categorize pathways spanning consolidation to dissolution when turbulence shatters mMNEs’ capability ecosystems. With nuanced models and optimization uncovering configurations that compel or force withdrawal, this study provides configurational explanations, beyond deterministic stage theories, for mMNEs’ growing international contraction.