| Author: | Shu, Wenjun |
| Title: | Empirical studies on firm strategy and performance under geopolitical risks |
| Advisors: | Fan, Di (SFT) |
| Degree: | Ph.D. |
| Year: | 2026 |
| Department: | School of Fashion and Textiles |
| Pages: | xii, 148 pages : color illustrations |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | This dissertation investigates how multinational enterprises navigate operations and develop strategies amid geopolitical conflicts, using the 2022 Russo-Ukrainian War as the empirical setting. Through three interconnected studies, this dissertation examines firms' strategic choices, performance consequences, and the underlying mechanisms shaping these outcomes during geopolitical turbulence. The first study presents a systematic literature review synthesizing how geopolitical hazards influence firm's strategic decision-making, operational performance, and supply chain resilience, establishing theoretical foundations for subsequent empirical investigations. The second study examines firms that "locked-in" Russia despite escalating conflicts. Grounded in resource dependence theory and employing propensity score matching combined with difference-in-differences analysis, the findings reveal that locked-in firms experienced significant profitability decline. This study further uncovers heterogeneous moderating effects of market dependency and organizational slack on this relationship. The third study examines market exit as an alternative strategic choice. It reconceptualizes Russian market exits as a form of corporate sociopolitical activism. Drawing on instrumental stakeholder theory and expectation confirmation theory, the difference-in-differences estimation reveals that activism-oriented exits generated significant gains in brand equity and profitability. These benefits were amplified under conditions of normative, reputational, and temporal alignment. The findings remain robust after addressing endogeneity concerns. Collectively, this dissertation advances theoretical understanding of firm strategy and performance under geopolitical risks while providing practical insights for managers navigating an increasingly fragmented global business environment. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | open access |
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