Internationalization of the state-owned enterprises from emerging markets: Evidence from Russia

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between state ownership and internationalization in Russian companies. International expansion of state firms from emerging markets is the topic frequently addressed in the research community of international business and strategic management, whereby the studies on emerging markets state-owned enterprises internationalization provide contradictory results. One of the reasons is the difference between the contexts of countries where state-owned enterprises operate which affects the way how state ownership is related to internationalization. Russian state-owned enterprises are the least studied companies in terms of their international expansion, and the examination of the relationship between state ownership and internationalization of firms can fill in the gap in the emerging market state-owned enterprises internationalization puzzle. The paper shows the study of the internationalization of the Russian state-owned enterprises spanning a five-year period 2013–2017. The results show that the more the degree of state ownership in a Russian company is, the less its internationalization is. The study contributes to the discussion of the role of state ownership for the internationalization of emerging market firms by emphasizing the importantce of the contextual country specifics. The study also discusses the role of a state in the internationalization of companies.