Dr Mary Leung

International business strategic leaders guide multinational enterprises (MNEs) across diverse cultural, legal, and economic environments to achieve strategic outcomes. Effective leaders balance the collection and analysis of complex information, respond to external stakeholder demands, and promote responsible leadership. They leverage local knowledge, manage global talent, and foster innovation. This comprehensive approach ensures competitive advantage and sustainability in the global market. Challenges include balancing centralised decision-making and fostering trust and collaboration across cultures. Understanding and addressing these challenges are crucial for the success of MNEs.

In the context of the debate on the global imbalances, this study investigates the determinants of US trade balance in a Non-linear ARDL framework which accounts for the asymmetric and nonlinear effects of real effective exchange rate dynamics. Drawing on the data from 1994Q1 to 2018Q1, our key empirical findings suggest significant evidence of short and long-run asymmetries in the relationship between the real effective exchange rate, US trade balance and its determinants. An asymmetric cumulative dynamic multiplier analysis shows evidence of an asymmetric J-curve. Furthermore, we find that the price stability, productivity, domestic savings and fiscal deficit/discipline are crucial for the US trade balance in the short to long term. Empirical findings of this study contribute to the contemporary debate on the US trade deficit and have profound policy implications for the competitiveness of the US economy and its external balance.

Purpose – What drives small to medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs’) internationalisation strategy remains a significant issue in international business research, despite the huge research efforts on this subject over the past three decades. The purpose of this paper is to investigate and compare the motives behind the equity modes of foreign market entry in Norway. Design/methodology/approach – Employing a cross sectional survey, a sample of 146 firms consisting of 42 international equity joint ventures (IJVs), 53 cross-border mergers & acquisitions (CBM&As) and 51 wholly owned subsidiaries (FWOS) from Norway was collected and analysed. Findings – It was found that whereas market development and power influence the choice of IJVs and CBM&As, the need to access resources and control resources appear to be the most important motives behind FWOS as an entry mode choice. Moreover, the regression results indicate that market development and power, technology development, location advantage and synergistic gains appear to have a significant bearing on different entry mode choice in Norway. Research limitations/implications – The paper examines the motivation for the choice of foreign entry mode from the point of view of senior managers in Norway. Future research should accommodate multiple perspectives simultaneously from the parent companies and subsidiaries in a single paper to significantly advance the field. Practical implications – The paper discovers that the motives behind the choice of cooperative modes of entry tend to be more linked with market development, technological development while FWOS are motivated by the need to control proprietary resources. The implication for the Norwegian government is that its financial incentives do not affect the mode choice of entry. Original/value – The paper finds that different motives and theories influence the choice of foreign market entry by SMEs in Norway and provides insights for senior managers on the factors taken into account in making choice decisions in Norway.

Research continually shows that women face barriers and exclusions, however, the existing research seems to be mainly concentrated on organisations generally or corporations. This report analyses available research on women and SMEs in a period from 2000-2021. The analysis focuses on research published in women and gender journals. Thematic analysis has been conducted on 106 identified articles divided into two decades, 2000-2009 and 2010-2021. Findings show that barriers is the main theme that runs through existing research with women reporting societal, cultural and institutional barriers, as well as lack of confidence, a different approach to working and/or running businesses, masculinities and the lack of training and skills. The existing research is largely international and these themes run through the whole corpus of analysed research showing a global issue of women in SMEs, particularly women entrepreneurs.