Increasing innovation and financial performance of international companies active in developing countries by overcoming institutional voids

Financial and innovation performance are important issues for all companies, but achieving high performance in markets with underdeveloped institutions is a big challenge. One of the issues in emerging markets is the lack of developed institutions supporting market activities, which is referred to as institutional void. Therefore, companies need to identify appropriate strategies to respond to these voids in different parts of the market to increase their innovation and financial performance. For this purpose, we are seeking to provide a model of better performance in developing countries. In this research, by applying qualitative approach and using a template-based case study, 13 active companies in Iran were studied in a semi-structured way. The findings show that firms use diverse strategies to enhance their performance in the contexts with institutional voids. These results provide valuable insights for international business scholars and managers and firms seeking to increase their performance in developing countries.