Abstract• This paper focuses on MNEs' corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting, which previous studies have found to exhibit strong country-of-origin effects. It examines whether MNEs' adherence to global standards (as adopted by e.g. ILO, OECD, UN, ISO) is associated with smaller cross-country differences and less country-of-origin effects in CSR reporting, and whether stringency of standards' enforcement mechanisms affects reporting harmonization.• To test our hypotheses, we collected data on 25 CSR items for a sample of firms consisting of the top 250 firms listed in the Fortune Global list, using ordered logistic regression analysis.• We find evidence for upward harmonization in reporting for those MNEs that adhere to global CSR standards. Stricter enforcement mechanisms did not result in stronger harmonization.• Our findings imply that global standards and guidelines do not only increase the overall level of CSR reporting, but are also associated with a harmonization of CSR activities of firms from different countries, thus reducing the role that domestic institutions (including legislation and societal concerns) play in shaping CSR practices. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

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This paper explores whether the internationalization trajectories -patterns over time in the level, pace, variability and temporal concentration of international expansion -of large firms from China and India are fundamentally different from those of developed country firms. A longitudinal cross-country comparative study of 256 large firms for the 1990-2004 period shows that, although internationalization trajectories of large and leading Chinese and Indian firms are indeed different, there are also considerable similarities between established developed country firms and the new firms from emerging markets, not in the least because they often interact within the same sector

The macro-level debate on the economic impact of multinational enterprises (MNEs) is still unsettled. This article explores micro-level evidence by examining what Fortune Global 250 firms themselves report about their economic impact. Such reporting embodies corporate attempts to account for their economic implications, in addition to the environmental and social aspects of their activities that have traditionally received more attention in the context of corporate responsibility. Firms' reports turn out to provide a rich illustration of the mechanisms through which MNEs (can) affect economic development (including sheer size, technology transfer, and backward linkages) and of how such impacts are being operationalized and measured. The authors test which MNEs are most likely to disclose information on the various mechanisms and find that it is influenced by region, sector, and size but not by profitability. Implications of this exploratory study for research and practice are discussed.

Purpose -The domestic institutional context has emerged as a key determinant of firms' environmental disclosure, but studies have hardly addressed the extent to which exposure to foreign institutional contexts plays a role in the occurrence and contents of non-financial disclosure, crucial aspects for understanding multinationals' accountability. This article therefore investigates the relationship between internationalization (both degree and spread) and environmental disclosure. Design/methodology/approach -It is hypothesized that both home and host country institutional pressures affect the relationship between internationalization and environmental disclosure, and that effects are more prominent in environmentally-sensitive sectors. The proposed relationships are tested using data from the Fortune Global 250. Findings -Results show a significantly negative relationship between the degree of internationalization and environmental disclosure, which is only partly mitigated by environmental governance and institutional quality in home and host countries. Only for firms in high-sensitivity sectors from high-standard countries is the relationship positive. Findings are particularly strong for the degree of internationalization; and non-significant for dispersion/spread. Originality/value -This article moves beyond the predominant focus on country-of-origin effects by adding exposure to foreign institutional contexts, for which it develops a new indicator. It renews attention to non-financial disclosure, a topic underexposed in the IB literature. Viewed from a broader IB perspective, the article provides an empirical illustration of the effect of home and host institutions on firm strategy, and of the use of different metrics to assess internationalization with divergent results for degree versus spread, as well as for sales versus assets, pointing at areas for further research.