Summary

An initial public offering (IPO) is the process within which private firms offer their shares to the public by form of a new stock issuance for the first time. IPOs have strong economic significance and performance fluctuations, which affect both firms and public markets. What is more, acquiring capital on a stock exchange outside of the firm’s home country comes with substantial benefits, including access to a greater and more diversified pool of resources and investors, more liquid markets, the opportunity to raise capital at a lower cost of capital, and increased capital retention for future investments. On the contrary, it also introduces multiple challenges, including higher underwriting, professional, and initial listing fees or lower analyst coverage, trading volume, and trading liquidity.

Integrating and building on literature emerging from multiple domains, including international business (IB), accounting, finance, entrepreneurship, management, and economics, international IPO research clusters around seven central themes: corporate governance, upper echelon, social partners, internationalization activities, institutions, technology, and market activities. Each of these themes employs unique theoretical perspectives and findings, which are at the forefront of advancements in international IPO research from its early beginnings and altogether provide a deep understanding with some potential avenues of future enquiries within the field.