Is there an advantage of emergingness? A politico-regulatory perspective

•Subsidiaries of emerging-economy MNEs outperform those of developed-economy MNEs when deploying fixed asset management capabilities in emerging-economy host countries.•This effect is stronger when host-country politico-regulatory institutions are underdeveloped.•Subsidiaries of emerging-economy MNEs also outperform those of developed-economy MNEs when deploying tax planning capabilities and host-country politico-regulatory institutions are volatile.