Engaging the debate regarding the appropriate level of geographic diversification for multinational enterprises (MNEs), we examine a critical, yet unresolved, question: How is performance impacted by the MNE's level of intra-and inter-regional diversification versus the total level of geographic diversification? Using data from 123 U.S.-based MNEs over a seven-year period and leveraging both sales-based and subsidiary-based measures for diversification, we find that performance increases at an increasingly higher rate as firms concentrate more heavily on intra-regional diversification. Regarding inter-regional diversification and total geographic diversification, we find inverted-U relationships to exist between firm performance and the level of geographic diversification. Different from recent research on multinationality, our robustness checks indicate no evidence of a sigmoidal relationship between the degree of regional diversification and performance.

Building new space for institutional theory, we propose how the severity of formal and informal institutional voids shapes the productivity of entrepreneurial activities within society. Our theory makes the key assumptions that voids can exist in both formal and informal institutions and that they are capable of hindering entrepreneurial behavior that is favorable to development progress. We extend new theoretical domains by conceptualizing informal institutional voids and proposing how both formal and informal institutional voids and their interaction influence two qualitative outcomes within localities: (1) the unique forms of entrepreneurial activity, and (2) the objectives underlying this entrepreneurial activity.

To encourage new research on the role of institutions in the entrepreneurial process in less developed countries (LDCs), the authors propose a conceptual framework to investigate concurrent institutional constraints. The authors define these constraints as geopolitical contexts that encounter simultaneous challenges to well functioning formal and informal institutions. Systems of stronger institutions compensating for weaker institutions are hampered in these settings and such systems weigh heavier on local entrepreneurs and further challenge their ability to mobilize resources and access market opportunities. By investigating the extreme operating conditions of these settings, scholars gain a deeper understanding of how entrepreneurs confront operational dilemmas and express agency through engaging with bricolage and cultural entrepreneurship. To animate these proposals, the authors consider a case illustration of a venture operating under such constraints.

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