Explaining emerging multinational acquisition in advanced economies: A learning and catch-up perspective Overcoming the liability of emergingness through internationalization by acquisition: Learning and competitive catch-up by emerging multinationals The study of multinational enterprises

1 Explaining emerging multinational acquisition in advanced economies: A learning and catch-up perspective Overcoming the liability of emergingness through internationalization by acquisition: Learning and competitive catch-up by emerging multinationals The study of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in the past has been mainly focused on the large firms from the advanced economies (i.e., the so-called US, Europe, and Japan triad). Although some scholars did investigate MNEs from developing countries in the 1970s (Lall, Caves, Kumar), their studies were conducted mainly at the macroeconomic level and, in any case, at that time these firms were mostly statedominated, restricted to a very limited number of (mostly primary) sectors, and played a minuscule role in global commerce. The latest wave of outward foreign direct investment from developing countries is a far more substantive and widespread phenomenon and appears to be here to stay.