تاثیر ریسک انتشار، کنترل استراتژیک و مهارت های مدیریت جهانی بر تصمیم گیری مودال شرکت ها در کشور میزبان

This paper examines how firms' modal choice is influenced by their exposure to dissemination risks, need for strategic control and possession of global management skills. A probabilistic model is specified. The following hypotheses are incorporated in the model: the probability of choosing a more advanced entry, ceteris paribus, is a function of (1) the risk-adjusted expected net benefits of a firm's possession of certain types of intangible, transportable assets; (2) parent company attributes that necessitate control over its strategic resources overseas; and (3) possession of certain global resources that are specific to the firm such that their effective internalization calls for higher entry mode. The models are estimated using polychotomous regression analysis. Results generally confirm that size and possession of some knowledge-based, firm-specific strategic assets, are significantly related to advanced entry modes. They also confirm that firms opt for higher entry mode to gain control of competitive pricing in the foreign markets.

A common thread linking most of the traditional models of the internationalization process of firms is the depiction of the progressive involvement of firms while staying in the overseas markets. For instance, the “sequential” argument portrays an incremental pattern of internationalization in which firms go through an exporting phase to understand the market before switching first to market-seeking foreign direct investments (FDI) and then to cost-oriented investments (Vernon, 1983). An analogous view held by other researchers sees the firms' overseas activities as one involving a modal change, i.e., firms start with contractual modes such as exporting to licensing to gain valuable knowledge and resources in the markets and then upgraded to FDI modes such as joint ventures and wholly owned subsidiaries (Aharoni, 1966). Further, the Scandinavian “stages” model of market entry, proposed by the Uppsala School, suggested a step-by-step pattern of entry accompanied by an increasing scope of commitment to each market (Johanson & Wiedersheim-Paul, 1975 and Johanson & Vahlne, 1977). The traditional models, which thrived predominantly on the notion of FDI as an increasing commitment over time, are based on a static modeling of cost and benefits. This notion has now been increasingly challenged. There are many instances in which firms that have delayed entry to a later point in time may have accumulated their resources to the point where the use of lower entry modes is deemed inadequate in terms of risk-adjusted net benefits to justify an investment. While most of the past researches have concentrated on the escalating involvement of firms either through increasing their scale of operation within a particular mode or through a modal change, there is no study that could provide a satisfactory explanation as to why firms often forgo the lower modes and choose more advanced modes of entry modes in the first instance. In this paper, we add to the literature by proposing a probabilistic framework that models firms' modal choice decision as an intrinsically dynamic process which considers the risks that firms face in the dissemination of their transportable assets, the extent of strategic control they are able to exert over their operations and the possession of applicable global resources. The first part of the paper describes the theoretical underpinning of the entry modes. Next, relevant literature and the hypotheses are discussed. Later, the methodology, analysis, and results are presented. Finally, some important implications of the research are explored.

This study has attempted a broad-based theoretically guided field study of how modal choice is affected by the dissemination risks, strategic control and global management skills of the firms. While past studies view the expansion of foreign operations in terms of the scale of the investment, we have broadened this understanding to include this growth as depicted in the firms' modal choice. Using a prognostic framework, our study provides a more coherent explanation of entry modes of firms by demonstrating that firms need not necessarily follow a conventional path of progression in modal change, especially in circumstances where the cost–benefit calculus favors more advanced modal choices. By employing polychotomous regression on firm-level data, we make improvement to the traditional analyses that were limited to comparison between two modal choices. Rather than treating the entry modes as nominal choices, we ordinalize the modes in a prescribed hierarchy that corresponds to the magnitude of resource commitment and economic gains by firms. The findings in this study tie in well with the theories of foreign direct investments that have been widely elucidated in the literature. They lend support to the prediction of the eclectic framework that firms with strong specific advantages, such as research and development, reputation and product superiority, seek to expand their foreign involvement through employing higher modes of entry. This decision to move overseas has certain strategic implications; in our study, we have determined that control over competitive pricing is one of the areas crucial to the firms' global strategy. Further, the findings augment the argument of past studies that the firms' ability to internalize their competencies overseas depends on their global management skills as reflected in their foreign market skills, geographic diversification and size. These results have important implications as they contribute to justifying greater attention to areas important to firms in their process of internationalization. Findings of this article could provide valuable input to the development of normative models designed to improve entry modes decision. In conclusion, two principal limitations of this research must be noted. Firstly, our measures of home–host country variations of HOMECTY to proxy home country advantages and MARKETS to represent the types of markets could be further improved in future studies. The micro treatments of HOMECTY by adding several more precise measures and MARKETS through breaking down into specific countries will shed greater light on the impact of home country endowment of the firm and attractiveness of host markets on firms' modal choice. Secondly, the influence of location factors in our study has been measured on an ex post facto basis. It is possible that respondents may have chosen entry modes in a particular way, but post-rationalized their choice in a different way. Consequently, the influence on entry mode choice of some effects may have been overrated and others underrated by the respondents. Ideally, to prevent this problem, measurement must be made just before the entry mode choice is made and implemented. However, such a data collection approach represents a formidable challenge.