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  • March–April 2019
  • Article
  • Organization Science

A Recombination-Based Internationalization Model: Evidence from Narayana Health's Journey from India to the Cayman Islands

By: Budhaditya Gupta and Tarun Khanna
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Abstract

Internationalizing firms often find developing host-country resources challenging as they simultaneously attempt to replicate the resources that worked well in their home country and adapt them to fit the context of the host country. On the basis of a longitudinal study of the expansion of India-domiciled Narayana Health (NH), a tertiary healthcare provider, to the contextually distinct Cayman Islands, we propose a recombination-based internationalization model that allows us to offer a new conception of this replication—adaptation tradeoff. Recombination entails creating anew in the host country by drawing from, adapting, and integrating diverse resources developed earlier in heterogeneous settings in the home country. We theoretically explore the mechanisms underlying such recombination processes in organizational settings.

Keywords

Recombination; Internationalization; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Multinational Firms and Management; Health Care and Treatment; India; Cayman Islands

Citation

Gupta, Budhaditya, and Tarun Khanna. "A Recombination-Based Internationalization Model: Evidence from Narayana Health's Journey from India to the Cayman Islands." Organization Science 30, no. 2 (March–April 2019): 405–425.
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About The Author

Tarun Khanna

Strategy
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