Realizing a hybrid competitive strategy and achieving superior financial performance while internationalizing in the high-technology market

•MNC globalization phase and key resources are important contextual factors in the realization of a hybrid competitive strategy.•MNC’s evolution to a more mature phase allows it to benefit from favorable cost structures and innovations across countries.•Realization of a hybrid over single competitive strategy is an intervening construct between the contextual factors and performance.•Key resources or advancement along globalization phase do not provide financial performance if the competitive strategy is misplaced.

Previous marketing research has called for enhanced understanding of the antecedents contributing to realization of a competitive strategy leading to superior performance. In particular, this research has been inconclusive about the conditions under which a multinational corporation (MNC) can realize a ‘hybrid’ competitive strategy. Our study examines the achievability and performance of a hybrid strategy compared with a single strategy as firms internationalize in the high-technology market. The evolutionary theory of the MNC and the resource-based view were applied. Our empirical results indicate that realization of a hybrid competitive strategy is dependent on both the globalization phase of the high-technology MNC and its key resources. We also found that hybrid strategies mediate these contextual factors and thereby contribute to superior financial performance.