ABSTRACT
The geographic orientation of multinational enterprises (MNEs) has long attracted scholarly attention. A. M. Rugman and colleagues have argued that MNEs are regionally rather than globally oriented, and that such geographic orientation has a positive performance impact. Emerging-economy MNEs (EMNEs), relative to developed-economy MNEs (DMNEs), are at an early stage of their lifecycle, and their firm-specific assets are likely to be home-based and location-bound. It can thus be argued that in terms of regional orientation, EMNEs are not different from DMNEs and can be subject to home-region bias. The institutional context provides a foundation for firm activities and business transactions. Legal and regulative institutions, such as laws, government policies and administrative institutions, determine the formal structure of rights in transactions and exchanges. A regional locational decision can be influenced by relative country factors. This is because nested in the regional decision is a country in the region that is used as an entry platform to that region.
