The impact of institutions on the resources of foreign companies: the case of third party logistics service providers in Russia

Emerging markets and transition economies challenge established business theories. In this paper, we conceptualise a framework incorporating the institution– and resource–based view to analyse how institutions impact the operations of western companies in a transition economy context: foreign third party logistics service providers (3PLs) in Russia. Our case study’s findings center on the question of how institutions affect foreign 3PLs’ local operations in Russia along six resource and six institutional dimensions. The findings assert the most challenging effects to occur in the areas of human resources, physical resources and organizational resources – and also suggest a new ‘legal resource’ in this particular context.