Research on multinational enterprises has often treated foreign investment as a one-way process: firms enter a market and then either remain or exit. In reality, firms follow more varied paths. They withdraw from countries they once selected carefully, and some later re-enter. My research examines this broader cycle, asking how a country’s social and political environment, together with a firm’s experience and resources, shapes decisions to enter, exit, and re-enter foreign markets. I study these questions using longitudinal data, which makes it possible to distinguish lasting changes in firm behaviour from short-term fluctuations.
Research interests
Foreign market exit and re-entry
Exiting a market is not necessarily the end of a firm’s global strategy; it may be a decision with a sequel. The question is: What do firms carry with them when they leave, and does that knowledge still matter when they return?
Institutional environment
Institutions provide the context in which firms make sense of foreign markets and adjust their international strategies. The question is: When does that environment support foreign firms, and when does it push them to rethink their strategies?
Quantitative research
Quantitative research allows me to move beyond patterns and ask what drives them. It helps me trace how country, firm, and subsidiary-level forces interact, and where possible, distinguishing causal relationships from simple associations.
Work in progress
01
In preparation
When Exit is Not the End: Speed of MNEs’ Foreign Market Re-Entry From a Penrosean Perspective
Re-entry is part of a broader cycle of internationalization rather than a simple reversal of exit. When firms return to markets they previously left, the speed of re-entry depends in part on the knowledge and experience accumulated during their earlier presence. Yet that advantage may erode as organizational memory fades and host-country conditions change. This paper examines when prior market experience continues to facilitate re-entry and when its value diminishes over time. Drawing on Penrose, it links this process to the managerial resources firms can redeploy as they resume international expansion.
02
In preparation
Rethinking Cultural Distance: The Role of Intra-national Religious Diversity in Expatriate Staffing
International business research often treats culture as a distance between countries, implicitly assuming that national cultures are internally homogeneous. In practice, substantial cultural variation also exists within countries. This paper examines what is missed when that heterogeneity is ignored, using religious diversity as one dimension of within-country cultural diversity. It studies how such diversity shapes expatriate staffing decisions, including firms’ reliance on parent-country nationals and their willingness to draw on local managerial talent.
03
In preparation
Democratic Institutions and MNEs’ Foreign Market Exits
Democratic institutions are often associated with stronger property rights, more predictable rules, and lower political risk for foreign investors. Yet the same institutional environment can also intensify competition, public scrutiny, and regulatory pressure. This paper examines that tension and asks how democratization shapes the likelihood that multinational firms remain in or exit a host country.
04
In preparation
Reconceptualization of Foreign Market Re-Entry
Re-entry is often treated as a form of repeated market entry, but returning firms are not equivalent to new entrants. They re-enter with prior market knowledge, established relationships, a reputation, and the legacy of their earlier exit. This paper develops re-entry as a distinct stage in the internationalization cycle and examines what that distinction implies for how re-entry should be theorized and studied.
Conferences and presentations
2025
- AIB Canada Chapter Conference, Toronto, Canada.
2024
- AIB 2024 Conference, Seoul.
- AIB UK & Ireland Chapter 50th Conference, Birmingham, UK.
- Invited talk at LUISS University, Rome, Italy.
2023
- SMS 43rd Annual Conference, Toronto.
- KTO Paper Development Workshop, Skema Business School, France.
- S&IB Paper Development Workshop, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands.
2022
- SMS 42nd Annual Conference, London, UK.
- 15th Chamonix PhD Seminar in Management, Emlyon Business School, France.