Multinational Enterprises' Legitimating in Their Host Countries:A Literature Review and Prospects

Liu Juan

Foreign Economics & Management Vol. 38, Issue 03, pp. 99 - 112 (2016)  DOI:10.16538/j.cnki.fem.2016.03.008

Abstract

Because of the institutional distance between the home country and the host country, the MNEs' legitimating issues in their host countries become increasingly prominent.Based on a literature review, this paper firstly elaborates the essential features of legitimating under different theoretical systems; then from an institutional isomorphism theory perspective, it emphatically interprets the sources and ways of MNEs' legitimating in their host countries; according to the characteristics of MNEs and market subjects of the host countries, this paper systematically explains and summarizes the categories of the MNEs' legitimating strategy in their host countries; based on such study, it systematically reviews some related empirical studies, such as conception measurement, result variable selection and national data comparison; at last it puts forward some prospects for future research emphases and directions to provide the reference for follow-up research and internationalization practice of enterprises.

Keywords

multinational enterprise; legitimating; institutional distance; institutional pressure