Multinational Performance and Risk Management Effects: Capital Structure Contingencies

Multinational enterprise provides access to a diverse resource base that may support options related business initiatives and operational flexibilities with a potential to improve performance and risk management capabilities. Hence, multinationality should be associated with strategic responsiveness as real option structures allow the corporation to exploit new initiatives and pursue alternative actions. This, in turn should improve economic performance and risk management capabilities as corporate activities are adapted and new initiatives introduced in response to changing global conditions. The analyses of a cross-sectional sample comprising 1357 multinational firms during 1996-2000 partially support the proposed performance and risk management effects but also raise issues for further study.