Abstract
More than two decades after the introduction of the springboard perspective, the global environment confronting emerging market multinationals (EMNEs) has been fundamentally reshaped by intensifying geopolitical tensions, techno-nationalism, regulatory tightening, and retreat from hyper-globalization. This article advances five new patterns to enrich springboard theory—greater complexities, more divergence, complex re-routing, increased re-alignment, and collective springboarding—to illuminate how the logic of springboarding is being reconstituted under contemporary conditions. We argue that springboarding is not just a sequential asset-seeking pathway associated with latecomer catch-up, but also a multi-layered and geopolitically conditioned strategic calculus in which firms recalibrate ownership structures, leverage intermediary hubs, pursue collaborative and platform-based expansion, and engage in collective or bidirectional capability exchange. The EMNE population has become increasingly stratified, spanning early-stage asset seekers to global frontrunners capable of reverse knowledge transfer. Under each of the five new patterns, we articulate forward-looking research directions that identify key theoretical extensions and analytical lenses for understanding the next phase of EMNE internationalization in a multipolar global order.