Firms increasingly rely on alternative finance (AF) in addition to banks and equity markets, and its usage across countries differs significantly. We conceptualize AF as financing that operates within social, business, and virtual networks that generate informational, collateral, and incentive advantages compared to finance relying on traditional financial intermediaries. Examples of AF include family loans, microfinance, trade credit, community credit cooperatives, person-to-person (P2P), and crowdfunding. While AF is not a new phenomenon, technological development continues to facilitate its increasing prominence. We review the evolution of AF theories, summarize key empirical findings, and describe how AF intersects with international business (IB) research. Specifically, we review how AF feeds into the analysis of comparative financial systems, financial development, comparative corporate governance, and national culture. We conclude that AF has shaped comparative research in IB in important ways, but cross-border research in IB has hardly considered the role of AF. Globalization and technological development and adoption in the financial industry generate rich fields where AF and IB intersect; these have yet to be understood. We describe how IB research, specifically addressing the cross-border dimension, could benefit from integrating insights from AF research, and propose approaches to integrate theories on AF, IB, and internationalization.

除了银行和股票市场之外，公司越来越依赖替代金融 （AF），并且其在不同国家的使用情况差异很大。我们将 AF 概念化为在社交、商业和虚拟网络中运行的融资，与依赖传统金融中介机构的融资相比，它会产生信息、抵押和激励优势。AF 的示例包括家庭贷款、小额信贷、贸易信贷、社区信用合作社、个人对个人 （P2P） 和众筹。虽然 AF 并不是一个新现象，但技术发展继续促进其日益突出。我们回顾了 AF 理论的演变，总结了关键的实证发现，并描述了 AF 如何与国际商务 （IB） 研究相交。具体来说，我们回顾了 AF 如何融入比较金融体系、金融发展、比较公司治理和国家文化的分析。我们得出的结论是，AF 在重要方面塑造了 IB 的比较研究，但 IB 的跨境研究几乎没有考虑 AF 的作用。全球化以及金融行业的技术发展和采用产生了丰富的 AF 和 IB 交叉领域;这些还有待理解。我们描述了 IB 研究，特别是针对跨境维度，如何从整合 AF 研究的见解中受益，并提出了整合 AF、IB 和国际化理论的方法。