Pooja Thakur-Wernz Publishes Research Article for the Global Strategy Journal

By Abby Harlan
September 19, 2025

Pooja Thakur-Wernz, assistant professor of business administration at Washington and Lee University, has co-authored a new research article in the Global Strategy Journal titled "Not So Generous After All? Foreign Ownership and CSR Overspending in Emerging Markets. "

The paper, written with West Virginia University professor Olga Bruyaka , examines how foreign ownership shapes Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) spending in emerging markets.

The study challenges a long-standing assumption that foreign-owned firms, compared to local firms, are more generous in their CSR contributions. Using data from 320 publicly listed Indian companies between 2015 and 2023, Thakur-Wernz and Bruyaka found that higher levels of foreign ownership are associated with lower CSR overspending - that is, spending beyond legally mandated thresholds. Additionally, the study considered reputational standing of the foreign owner. When foreign owners have strong ESG (environmental, social and governance) reputations, their foreign subsidiaries in India tend to spend less than required, leveraging their reputation as an asset. By contrast, when owners face ESG controversies, foreign subsidiaries tend to overspend on CSR as a compensatory strategy.

This contingency-based perspective reframes the classic debate over whether being a foreign-based company is a liability or an asset. The study's findings show that foreign ownership does not uniformly lead to higher social investment; instead, its effects depend on owner-specific reputational factors. The article contributes to both international business theory and managerial practice by clarifying how firms calibrate their CSR spending in regulated environments, such as India.

Thakur-Wernz, who joined W&L in 2020, holds a bachelor's degree in commerce from Osmania University (India), an MBA from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. in management from Rutgers University. She teaches courses in global strategy and strategic management and researches the role of emerging economies in the global business landscape. Her teaching and research interests lie at the intersection of strategic management and international business.

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