M&A or FDI? Pathways to Sustainable International Expansion in Taiwanese Firms: The Case of TSMC – India
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61656/sbamr.v8i3.478Keywords:
M&A, foreign direct investment, corporate sustainability, ESG performance, international expansion, TSMC-IndiaAbstract
Purpose: This study explores, the strategic dilemma companies face when pursuing cross-border growth while remaining accountable to sustainability expectations. It sets mergers and acquisitions (M&A) alongside foreign direct investment (FDI) as two distinct pathways to international expansion, drawing on the Taiwanese corporate landscape and TSMC as a firm-level case to ground the discussion.
Methodology: This descriptive qualitative study reviews 23 peer-reviewed articles (2017-2026) and TSMC's 2025 annual and sustainability reports, organized into four themes M&A, cross-border M&A and international expansion, M&A and sustainability, and FDI and sustainability and analyzed using content analysis.
Findings: While M&A just supports sustainability when the acquiring firm manages ESG and governance risks well, FDI drives it more directly through cleaner production, technology transfer, and greater ESG transparency. TSMC relies mainly on FDI for growth seen in its overseas plants in the US, Japan, and Germany and this FDI has closely tracked its sustainability efforts, including renewable energy use, water conservation, and emission reductions.
Implications: The results call for situating international expansion within a wider strategic lens one where economic growth is pursued alongside, not ahead of, environmental, social, and governance responsibilities.
Originality: Unlike prior work that treats M&A and FDI as separate lines of inquiry, this study brings both strategies into a single sustainability-oriented discussion and applies it to Taiwanese firms, yielding a comparative perspective still uncommon in the literature.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Mariska Zulfianti, Bintang Pradipa Margiono, Virly Annisa Naila Rufaida, Ferina Nufita Rahmah, Fabian Hendra Sereno, Yuan Lin Kang
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