With the deepening and rapid development of China’s economy, returnees increasingly participate in the operation of enterprises. Based on the literature review of returnees, it is found that returnees have abundant tacit knowledge and special dual social network, which play an active role in innovation, entrepreneurship, internationalization and corporate governance. In addition, capability of management is affected by the institutional environment, so that the improvement of institutional environment can promote returnees to play their own advantages. On the basis of the literature review, two possible future research directions are proposed: a thorough study of returnees from the perspective of institutional-based view and ownership.
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