Internationalism And Mode Switching - Performance, Strategy And Timing

Uwe Sachse Internationalisation and Mode Switching GABLER RESEARCH Uwe Sachse Internationalisation and Mode Switching Performance, Strategy and Timing With a foreword by Prof. Dr. Jan Freidank RESEARCH Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de. Dissertation Edinburgh Napier University, 2011 1st Edition 2012 All rights reserved © Gabler Verlag | Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH 2012 Editorial Office: Ute Wrasmann | Nicole Schweitzer Gabler Verlag is a brand of Springer Fachmedien. Springer Fachmedien is part of Springer Science+Business Media. www.gabler.de No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright holder. Registered and/or industrial names, trade names, trade descriptions etc. cited in this publication are part of the law for trade-mark protection and may not be used free in any form or by any means even if this is not specifically marked. Cover design: KünkelLopka Medienentwicklung, Heidelberg Printed on acid-free paper Printed in Germany ISBN 978-3-8349-3130-6 Foreword Managing an international operation is seen by many as one of the most challenging activities in an enterprise. Generations of managers have therefore asked themselves similar questions such as: Firstly which foreign markets would be best to enter for my company, secondly, how can I best enter these markets, and thirdly what is the best development path for my enterprise once I have entered these markets? Even though these questions seem easy to answer reality shows that they are not. Looking only at numerous dimensions of market challenges it appears immediately that possible answers need to be supported by deep market insights and must acknowledge the complexity of the underlying questions. Many highly reputable scholars as well as experienced practitioners have contributed valuable insights to these questions. However, looking at the high number of publications two trends can be seen: First of all, the great majority of research contributions try to answer the first two questions (1) f oreign market selection and (2) market entry. Only a relatively small number of publications touch the third question of (3) market development after entry despite the fact that much of the long term success depends on the careful management and continuous development of foreign operation. Furthermore, due to the number of variables to be considered as well as their complex interactions many of the available studies include only a limited number of cases and markets. As a result they provide more qualitative than quantitative data. In this research work Uwe Sachse is offering substantial answers to this third question of how companies behave after they have entered a particular foreign market. Starting with a comprehensive literature review reflecting current research progress in the field of internationalization process, managing foreign operations and switching foreign opera