TheImpactofInstitutionalDifferences:StrategicOrientationDifferencesBetweenTwoEmergingMarketsGarryBrutonTexasChristianUniversityNeeleySchoolofBusinessFortWorth,Texas76129USAG.Bruton@tcu.eduChungMingLauChineseUniversityofHongKongDepartmentofManagementShatin,N.T.HongKongcmlau@cuhk.edu.hkYuanLuChineseUniversityofHongKongDepartmentofManagementShatin,N.T.HongKongYuriRubanikQualityLaboratoryMoscowFederalInstituteofElectronicTechnologyMoscow,RussiaSubmittedtotheAsiaAcademyofManagementConference,2004,Shanghai,China.May2004WewouldliketoacknowledgetheassistanceofRosannaLoindataanalysis.ThisprojectispartiallyfundedbyRGCCERG(CUHK4310/01H),HongKongSAR.1TheImpactofInstitutionalDifferences:StrategicOrientationDifferencesBetweenTwoEmergingMarketsABSTRACTIthasbeenwidelyrecognizedthatinstitutionscanimpacttheindividualstrategicactionsoffirmsinwiderangingconcernssuchasdiversificationandexit.Thisresearchdemonstratesthatinstitutionscanalsoimpacttheunderlyingstrategicorientationoffirmswhichleadstothosestrategicdecisions.Theinstitutionalsettingintwooftheleadingemergentmarkets,RussiaandChina,leadstodifferencesinstrategicorientationwhichinturnimpacttheresultingperformanceofhightechnologystartupsinthesecountries.KeyWords:StrategicorientationInstitutionsHi-techventures2TheImpactofInstitutionalDifferences:StrategicOrientationDifferencesBetweenTwoEmergingMarketsInstitutionsshapethebehaviorsofindividuals,andinturnorganizations,insubtlebutpervasiveways(Scott,1995).Ithasarguedthatthatabetterunderstandingofinstitutionscanprovideapowerfultoolforresearcherstocomprehendthedifferencesthatexistbetweenfirmsindifferentnations(Hoskisson,Eden,Lau,&Wright,2000;Scott,2002).Partoftheexplanatorypowerofinstitutionsisduetothebeliefthatinstitutionaldifferencesultimatelyproducedifferencesinstrategicactionsbyfirms(Peng,2003).Inseekingtounderstandinstitutionsandtheirimpactresearchershavecommonlyfocusedtheirexaminationonwhethertherearedifferencesinspecificstrategicactionsinvariousinstitutionalenvironments.Forexample,researchershaveexaminedspecificstrategicactionssuchasdiversification(Kogut,Walker,&Anand,2002),orforeigndirectinvestmentandownershiplevels(Delios&Henisz,2000)andventurecapitalindustries(Bruton&Ahlstrom,2003)indifferentinstitutionalsettings.Theseresearcherstypicallyassumethatanydifferencesinthespecificstrategicactionsareduetotheinstitutionaldifferences.But,itispossiblethattheinstitutionsarenotdirectlyimpactingthedifferentstrategicactionsthemselves,butinsteadareimpactingevenmorefundamentalconcernswhichinturnproducethedifferencesinstrategicactionsasoutcomes.Understandingthisdeeperperspectiveoninstitutionswouldallowbroaderstatementsaboutinstitutionsandtheirimpacttobemade.Thus,ratherthanexaminingeachindividualstrategicactionbroaderimplicationsforavarietyofstrategicactionscouldbehypothesized.Thus,thereisaneedforresearcherstonotsimplyfocussimplyoneachgivenstrategicaction,but3insteadtheyshouldseektogainadeeperunderstandingoftheunderlyingimpactofinstitutionswhichleadintoturntovariousstrategicchoices.Suchanunderlyingsetoffactorsthatimpactthestrategicchoicesofabusinessisthestrategicorientationofthefirm(Venkatraman,1989).Todate,itisnotclearifafundamentalissuelikestrategicorientationwilldiffersystematicallyindifferentinstitutionalenvironments.Therefore,thisresearchwillexaminehowtheinstitutionalenvironmentshapesstrategicorientationinbusinesses.Inpreparingtoexaminestrategicorientationitisrecognizedthatthereisastrongneedfororganizationalresearcherstobetterunderstandtheimpactofinstitutionsinemergenteconomies(Peng,2003;Scott,2002).Itisalsoincreasinglyrecognizedthatthenatureofthechangeinemergentmarketsprovidestheopportunityforresearcherstoobtainfreshinsightintowhatcircumstances,towhatextent,andinwhatwaysinstitutionsmatter(Peng,2003).Therefore,thisresearchwillexaminetheimpactofinstitutionsonstrategicorientationinemergenteconomies.Mostpriorresearchemployinginstitutionalresearchhaveexaminedfirmactionsinsinglecountries(ie.,Bansal&Clelland,2004;Bruton&Ahlstrom,2003;Khanna&Palepu,2000)orsoughttoexplainwhyfirmsfromonenationactdifferentlyinvariouspartsoftheworld(ie.,Kostova&Roth,2002;Lu,2002).However,aricherunderstandingabouttheroleofinstitutionscanbeobtainedbycomparingtheresultingimpactofinstitutionsonstrategicdomainsindifferentmarkets.RussiaandChinaaretwoemergentmarketswhicharetransitioningfromcentralcontroltomarketmechanisms.Aswillbedetailedlaterinthemanuscriptthetwonationshavechosendifferentpathstoreformtheireconomies.Asaresultofthesimilarbeginningsbutdifferentpathsto4reformthetwonationsofferanaturalexperimentsettingtoexaminetheimpactofinstitutions(Lawrence,Winn,&Jennings,2001).Therefore,thestudywillexaminethestrategicorientationoffirmsinthesetwonations.Therecanbeconsiderableheterogeneityintheenvironmentsofemergentmarkets(Hitt,Ahlstrom,Dacin,Levitas,&Svobodina,2004).Theabilitytocontrastasingletypeofbusiness,hightechnologystartups,intwotransitionaleconomieswillhelptocontrolpartofthisheterogeneity.Priorresearchhasnotextensivelyappliedinstitutionaltheorytoentrepreneurialsett