Does the meta-environment determine firm performance? Theory and evidence from European multinational enterprises

We study an underrepresented area in the international business literature: the effect of the meta-environment on multinational enterprise (MNE) performance. A meta-environment is a symbiosis of all country environments where an MNE operates. This conceptualization of a firm's external context is important because country borders increasingly become permeable. The unique governance structure of the MNE allows to specialize in recombining and melding multiple country resources and institutions. At any given point in time, each MNE will explore and exploit its own company-specific meta-environment. We therefore argue that variations in the meta-environment determine variations in MNE performance because wherever a firm is located, whether it has one location or many, its presence in a geographic space positions it relative to others in a unique configuration. Our study is among the first to examine empirically the impact of the meta-environment on firm achievements with a unique panel dataset from European multinationals. The results provide convincing support for our approach to the study of MNE performance. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.