Conclusions for Management Research.

Abstract

This research project has analysed foreign investors' entry strategies with particular attention to transactional, resource and institutional aspects. The research focus has been on the adaptation of entry strategies to the local business context, in particular the institutional environment and local resource endowment. This concluding chapter reviews emerging themes and implications of the research, and the case studies in particular, with relevance to the international management and strategy literature introduced in chapter 1. To start, it revisits the global strategies of the investors and their implications for FDI in emerging economies. Global strategies are the prime determinants of entry strategies, and any analysis of entry has to take them into account. Secondly, it considers conceptual issues concerning entry strategies, and reflects over the appropriateness of the conventional classifications of joint venture versus wholly owned, and acquisition versus greenfield. The case studies reveal important features of modes that may go unnoticed with the conventional classification. The chapter describes and classifies the entry modes in more detail with the aim of enriching the conceptual analysis of entry modes, and to propose concepts for future research. Thirdly, it reviews the crucial resource dimension of foreign entry in the spirit of recent literature on the resource-based view of the firm. The study investigated what kinds of resources are crucial for success or failure of affiliates in emerging markets, and where FDI firms obtain these resources. The cases point in particular to the dynamics of resource contributions during the early years after the initial establishment. Eventually, it is concerned with the implications of mode choice for both corporate and societal performance: which local circumstances would suggest using either entry mode and when do for instance acquisitions perform better than greenfield projects? The main implication of the qualitative work is, however, that the design of the deal may be more crucial than the choice of mode.

Citation

In: Investment Strategies in Emerging Markets by K. E. Meyer and S. Estrin, Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, pp. 307-328

Conclusions for Management Research.

Published 1 January 2004