Palitha Konara
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Email
pk22596@essex.ac.uk -
Telephone
+44 (0) 1702 328532
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Location
GB.3.25, Southend Campus
Profile
Biography
Palitha Konara is Professor of International Business and Strategy at Essex Business School (EBS). His research interests are on Multinational Enterprises’ foreign entry, location choice, corporate political activities, subsidiary operations/performance and exit/divestment. His previous research has appeared in Journal of World Business, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Global Strategy Journal, British Journal of Management, International Business Review, Journal of International Management, Journal of Business Research, Industrial Marketing Management, International Marketing Review, Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Management International Review, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Research in International Business and Finance, among others. He is a recipient of the best paper award (the 'Danny Van Den Bulcke Prize') in the European International Business Academy (EIBA) conference. He is a a Co-Investigator for the ESRC Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy (CITP). His recently funded work (as the Principal Investigator) also includes a project funded by the Welsh Government to research 'The Impact of foreign direct investment in Wales’; a Department for International Trade funded project investigating ‘Foreign Direct Disinvestment in the UK” and a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office funded project investigating ‘British companies’ exposure to the Chinese economy'. After completing a B.Sc. Engineering Degree specialized in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Palitha began working in the private sector in Sri Lanka and gained a track record with hands on experience in finance, audit, marketing, and general management. He gained most of his commercial experience in insurance and telecommunication industries working in the largest insurance company in Sri Lanka and the second largest fixed-line telecom operator in Sri Lanka. He then moved to the UK and completed a Master of Research Degree in International Business from Lancaster University Management School in 2011. Thereafter, he joined the York Management School to read for a PhD. His doctoral thesis investigated determinants and impact of Foreign Direct Investment in the context of Sri Lanka. He received the York Management School Scholarship and served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the international Business and strategy group at York Management School. Palitha’s academic credentials also include an MRes in International Business, an MBA specialised in Banking and Finance, a B.Sc. Degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, and a Bachelor of Information Technology Degree. Moreover, he is professionally qualified in Management Accounting (CIMA, UK), Marketing (CIM, UK) and Insurance (CII, UK). He is also a Fellow Member of Insurance Institute of India and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Appointments
University of Essex
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Director of Centre for Research on Entrepreneurship, Innovation Management and Internationalisation (REIMI), University of Essex (1/9/2022 - present)
Teaching and supervision
Current teaching responsibilities
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International Business Management (BE216)
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The International Business Environment (BE267)
Publications
Journal articles (32)
Ganotakis, P., Yeung, M., Angelidou, S., Konara, P. and Saridakis, C., (2025). Knowledge sourcing strategy and radical innovative performance: A temporal approach. Industrial Marketing Management. 124, 95-112
Batsakis, G., Mohr, A., Konara, P. and Koritos, C., (2024). The Effect of Foreign Divestment on Subsequent Firm Performance: The Moderating Role of Spatial and Temporal Dispersion of Prior Divestment Experience. British Journal of Management. 35 (4), 1763-1780
Shirodkar, V. and Konara, P., (2024). Multinational enterprises' lobbying and foreign subsidiary performance: Evidence from the U.S. in the context of the global financial crisis. European Management Review
Lyons, J., Konara, P. and Shirodkar, V., (2024). Family business legitimacy and foreign subsidiary establishment mode choice: An institutional and mixed gamble approach. International Business Review, 102360-102360
Mohr, A., Hashai, N., Puck, J., Konara, P. and Reinprecht, H., (2024). Remaking the Multinational Corporation: Geographically Dispersed Unbundling and Intangible Assets. Management International Review
Konara, P. and Mohr, A., (2023). Cultural bridging and the performance of international joint ventures. International Business Review. 32 (4), 102109-102109
Batsakis, G., Theoharakis, V., Li, C. and Konara, P., (2023). Internationalization and digitalization: Their differing role on grocer and non-grocer retailer performance. Journal of Retailing. 99 (3), 400-419
Konara, P. and Yang, Y., (2022). Institutional determinants of IJV partner choice in Europe: a host-country, a home-country or a third-country partner?. European Business Review. 34 (5), 706-728
Ganotakis, P., Konara, P., Kafouros, M. and Love, JH., (2022). Taking a time-out from exporting: Implications for the likelihood of export re-entry and re-entry export performance. Journal of World Business. 57 (5), 101349-101349
Konara, P., Batsakis, G. and Shirodkar, V., (2022). “Distance” in intellectual property protection and MNEs’ foreign subsidiary innovation performance. Journal of Product Innovation Management. 39 (4), 534-558
Batsakis, G., Konara, P. and Theoharakis, V., (2022). Digital sales channels and the relationship between product and international diversification: Evidence from going digital retail MNEs. Global Strategy Journal. 13 (4), 830-856
Shirodkar, V., Batsakis, G., Konara, P. and Mohr, A., (2022). Disentangling the effects of domestic corporate political activity and political connections on firms’ internationalisation: Evidence from US retail MNEs. International Business Review. 31 (1), 101889-101889
Konara, P., Lopez, C. and Shirodkar, V., (2021). Environmental innovation in foreign subsidiaries: The role of home-ecological institutions, subsidiary establishment mode and post-establishment experience. Journal of World Business. 56 (6), 101261-101261
Ganotakis, P., D'Angelo, A. and Konara, P., (2021). From latent to emergent entrepreneurship: The role of human capital in entrepreneurial founding teams and the effect of external knowledge spillovers for technology adoption. Technological Forecasting and Social Change. 170, 120912-120912
Al-Tabbaa, O., Lopez, C., Konara, P. and Leach, D., (2021). Nonprofit organizations and social-alliance portfolio size: Evidence from website content analysis. Industrial Marketing Management. 93, 147-160
Konara, P. and Wei, Y., (2020). Does language matter to foreign subsidiary performance?. International Marketing Review. 38 (2), 276-299
Konara, P., Stone, Z. and Mohr, A., (2020). Explaining alternative termination modes of international joint ventures. International Marketing Review. 37 (6), 1121-1153
Konara, P. and Ganotakis, P., (2020). Firm-specific resources and foreign divestments via selloffs: Value is in the eye of the beholder. Journal of Business Research. 110, 423-434
Konara, P., (2020). The role of language connectedness in reducing home bias in trade, investment, information, and people flows. Research in International Business and Finance. 52, 101180-101180
Kafouros, M., Love, JH., Ganotakis, P. and Konara, P., (2020). Experience in R&D collaborations, innovative performance and the moderating effect of different dimensions of absorptive capacity. Technological Forecasting and Social Change. 150, 119757-119757
Papageorgiadis, N., McDonald, F., Wang, C. and Konara, P., (2020). The characteristics of intellectual property rights regimes: How formal and informal institutions affect outward FDI location. International Business Review. 29 (1), 101620-101620
Mohr, A., Konara, P. and Ganotakis, P., (2020). Explaining the performance of divested overseas subsidiaries. International Business Review. 29 (1), 101602-101602
Omokaro‐Romanus, C., Anchor, JR. and Konara, P., (2019). The internationalization of Nigerian firms: Motivations and location patterns. Thunderbird International Business Review. 61 (1), 75-88
Konara, P. and Mohr, A., (2019). Why We Should Stop Using the Kogut and Singh Index. Management International Review. 59 (3), 335-354
Konara, P., Tan, Y. and Johnes, J., (2019). FDI and heterogeneity in bank efficiency: Evidence from emerging markets. Research in International Business and Finance. 49, 100-113
Konara, P. and Wei, Y., (2019). The complementarity of human capital and language capital in foreign direct investment. International Business Review. 28 (2), 391-404
Konara, P. and Shirodkar, V., (2018). Regulatory Institutional Distance and MNCs' Subsidiary Performance: Climbing up Vs. Climbing Down the Institutional Ladder. Journal of International Management. 24 (4), 333-347
Elliott, C., Konara, P., Ling, H., Wang, C. and Wei, Y., (2018). Behind film performance in China’s changing institutional context: The impact of signals. Asia Pacific Journal of Management. 35 (1), 63-95
Shirodkar, V., Konara, P. and McGuire, S., (2017). Home‐institutional Imprinting and Lobbying Expenditure of Foreign Firms: Moderating Effects of Experience and Technological Intensity. British Journal of Management. 28 (4), 589-608
Shirodkar, V. and Konara, P., (2017). Institutional Distance and Foreign Subsidiary Performance in Emerging Markets: Moderating Effects of Ownership Strategy and Host-Country Experience. Management International Review. 57 (2), 179-207
Konara, P. and Wei, Y., (2016). Foreign direct investment as a catalyst for domestic firm development: The case of Sri Lanka. Transnational Corporations. 23 (3), 1-32
Elliott, C., Konara, P. and Wei, Y., (2016). Competition, Cooperation and Regulatory Intervention Impacts on Independent School Fees. International Journal of the Economics of Business. 23 (2), 243-262
Book chapters (1)
Konara, P. and Shirodkar, V., (2017). The direction of regulatory institutional distance and MNE’s subsidiary ownership strategy: Re-examining theory and evidence in the case of emerging markets. In: Progress in International Business Research. Emerald Publishing Limited. 135- 154. 9781787437197
Grants and funding
2024
Centre for Inclusive Trade Policy
Economic and Social Research Council
Contact
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