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Storytelling the internationalization of the multinational enterprise

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Abstract

Internationalization deals with expansion across space and time. Researchers have framed internationalization as market growth and expansion through foreign direct investment (FDI). We use narrative theory to frame a bigger, richer picture. Using Mikhail Bakhtin’s typology of nine space–time conceptions and directed observations of McDonald’s Corporation, we show how multinational enterprises (MNEs) create narratives of internationalization to mitigate the risks of FDI. Competing space–time conceptions in consumers’, authors’ and societies’ stories interact with managerial narratives to affect international product and task environments. We increase awareness of MNEs’ storytelling by offering a typology of stakeholders’ stories across space and time.

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Notes

  1. We define strategy as realized or emergent patterns in a company’s decisions or actions (Mintzberg, 1994).

  2. Karen Barad proposed (ac)counting as both counting and accounting for holding together the disparate. Barad (2011: 146) elaborated that (ac)counting “cannot be a straight forward calculation, since it cannot be based on the assumed existence of individual entities that can be added to, subtracted from, or equated with one another.” In MNEs’ storytelling, (ac)counting occurs between the mundane and strategic, between past-oriented narrative and living story.

  3. We accept that petrification may sometimes be comprehended post hoc; petrified dominant narratives stamp strong organizational cultures and may provide needed continuity for organizations under certain circumstances.

  4. Ferdinand de Saussure depicted language as a collective product of social interaction, and essential instrument to constitute and articulate the world, influencing developments in the social sciences, with relevance for storytelling.

  5. Mikhail Bakhtin did not explicitly define local and global. We interpret his use of local as referring to individuals and small social groups, and global to collectives (including nations) and (global) society. We interpret present time to include maintaining activities that contribute to value creation.

  6. We selected stakeholders’ stories that interviews and analysis revealed provided justification or opposition for McDonald’s internationalization efforts and presence abroad.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Business & Economics, West Virginia University, Morgantown, USA

    Usha C V Haley

  2. Department of Management, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, USA

    David M Boje

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  1. Usha C V Haley
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Correspondence to Usha C V Haley.

Additional information

Accepted by Mary Yoko Brannen, Deputy Editor, 4 May 2014. This article has been with the authors for four revisions.

An earlier version of this article was presented at the 28th EGOS Colloquium, “Organizations as Phenomena of Language Use” sub-theme, Helsinki, Finland, July 2012. Editor Mary Yoko Brannen gave generously of her time and ideas to improve this article. We thank her, two anonymous reviewers, George Haley, Robert Maddox and Jennifer Sexton for their excellent suggestions.

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C V Haley, U., M Boje, D. Storytelling the internationalization of the multinational enterprise. J Int Bus Stud 45, 1115–1132 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1057/jibs.2014.32

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