Pursuing ambidextrous foreign direct investment (FDI) has been suggested as a desirable strategic choice of emerging economy (EE) firms in their internationalization. Yet, reconciling explorative and exploitative activities overseas is complicated due to their conflicting and tensional nature. This study explores why some EE firms can achieve high levels of ambidextrous FDI while others cannot. Drawing on upper echelons theory, we propose a micro-foundation perspective of ambidextrous FDI by studying top management teams’ (TMTs) attributes. Applying a configurational approach to a sample of 294 EE firms’ FDI observations (of which 43 are ambidextrous FDI in nature) from 2011 to 2015, we not only confirm the equal importance of both TMT incentive and cognitive factors as causal conditions to achieve a high degree of ambidextrous FDI, but also provide original evidence on the interactive configurations of those factors that lead to ambidextrous FDI.

中文翻译：

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灵巧外商直接投资的微观基础

追求灵活的外国直接投资 (FDI) 已被建议作为新兴经济体 (EE) 公司国际化的理想战略选择。然而，由于其冲突和紧张的性质，协调海外的勘探和剥削活动是复杂的。本研究探讨了为什么一些 EE 公司可以实现高水平的灵活 FDI，而其他公司则不能。借鉴高层理论，我们通过研究高层管理团队（TMT）的属性，提出了灵巧型FDI的微观基础视角。从 2011 年到 2015 年，对 294 家 EE 公司的 FDI 观察样本（其中 43 家本质上是灵巧的 FDI）应用配置方法，我们不仅确认了 TMT 激励和认知因素作为实现高灵活的 FDI 程度，