The purpose of this paper was to provide a comprehensive review of the evolving research on a still key challenge for human resource management (HRM) in the globalized business of today: the expatriates and their impact on business performance. Research of four decades was reviewed to show what was known and what was not yet known. A bibliometric analysis was conducted to build a conceptual map of the evolving research. Up to 438 papers published in 104 different journals by 233 authors were analyzed. Most of the literature studies and research does not show a systematic approach, so this review may be useful for scholars and practitioners in the field of HRM and International Business Management in order to advance into the next stage of development on how to deal with and take advantage of hiring expatriates. Even after more than four decades of intensive research, the literature on expatriation is still nascent and requires higher order content. New contexts and organizations should be included in the research agenda, while an effort must be made in systematic approaches and in building higher order content in the international HRM field.

It has been suggested that financial literacy plays a crucial role in the understanding of the overall performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Nonetheless, its impact remains underexplored, and the few existing findings are fragmented. This study conducts a systematic literature review focused on the antecedents and consequences of financial literacy in SMEs. The findings show that some educational, cultural, and specific contextual factors are antecedents of financial literacy; in turn, financial literacy influences the financial attitudes, financial behaviors, organizational capabilities, and performance of SMEs. Further research should analyze the uncovered lines of study suggested in our research agenda to consolidate the conceptualization of financial literacy in the context of SMEs, overcome the limitations of the current methodology, extend the current evidence about the antecedents and consequences of financial literacy in SMEs and analyze these relationships from behavioral economics and decision-making perspectives.

Going international early is increasingly the choice of new ventures in manufacturing industries. However, does earliness provide a positive outcome for internationalisation? To answer this, we have longitudinally analysed 3181 manufacturing new ventures established between 2002 and 2012. Using Cox regressions, we found that the 124 late internationals had the lowest risk of failure, while the 229 early internationals could not compensate for their mortality risk with significantly higher levels of growth in the post-internationalisation period. We discuss why an early internationalisation is more perilous than beneficial and provide some suggestions for the internationalisation of new ventures in these industries.