While competition laws have been increasingly adopted in emerging markets over recent decades, their impact on the strategic responses of emerging market enterprises (EMEs) remains underexplored. This study examines how competition law enforcement influences EMEs’ internationalization strategies. Building on the awareness-motivation-capability framework and internationalization speed literature, we reason that competition law enforcement heightens EMEs’ awareness of and motivation to navigate intensified market-oriented competitive dynamics. However, constrained by limited market capabilities, EMEs may not engage in direct competitive responses and instead resort to indirect strategies, such as springboard internationalization. We propose that stronger enforcement of competition laws accelerates the speed with which EMEs undertake their first cross-border acquisition. Furthermore, we hypothesize an inverted U-shaped moderating effect of technological capabilities, suggesting that EMEs with moderate technological capabilities are optimally positioned to leverage accelerated internationalization in response to competition law enforcement. Using a dataset of 2078 publicly listed Chinese firms from 2009 to 2020, we find empirical support for our predictions. We contribute with theoretical and policy-oriented insights on the dynamics of competition law enforcement and EME internationalization.
