<p>Why do some multinational enterprises (MNEs) persist with non-equity foreign operating modes despite transaction cost concerns? Building on an inductive multiple case study of nine Indian firms operating across 62 emerging markets, we theorize “high involvement–low investment” as a distinct foreign entry and operating mode, where MNE managers augment foreign partners’ operations—through co-selling, marketing, capability building, and end-user services—without equity-based governance control. <i>High involvement</i> fosters partners’ trust in MNEs, enabling the bundling of MNEs’ consultative selling skills with partners’ relational networks. While subsequent market expansion moves, such as adding new partners, risk eroding existing partners’ trust, consistent relational engagement through transparency, long-term orientation, and empathy preserves trust and sustains partnerships, enabling the persistence of a high-involvement, low-investment mode. Counterintuitive to transaction cost economics logic, our model explains how high involvement in both pre- and post-entry stages, together with the sustained use of relational assets, enables a persistent non-equity pathway for internationalization. We contribute to entry and operating mode research by identifying people-centric involvement as a dimension of foreign market commitment, alongside capital-centric investment. Further, we extend the asset-bundling view by highlighting managerial involvement as a mechanism for cross-border interorganizational trust and the bundling of intangible assets.</p>