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Wage employees enter self-employment either directly or in a staged manner and may subsequently undertake multiple stints at self-employment. Extant research on the relationship between entry modes and the persistence and outcomes of self-employment is inconclusive. This study investigates the relationship between wage employees’ initial mode of entry into self-employment and the duration of the subsequent first two stints of self-employment.

This study used a matched longitudinal sample of 9,550 employees who became majority owners of incorporated firms from 2005 to 2016.

The findings demonstrate that the initial mode of entry into self-employment matters for the first two stints at self-employment. Staged entry into self-employment was associated with a shorter first stint and became insignificant for the second stint. Staged entry into self-employment was positively related to the odds of becoming self-employed for the second time in the same firm.

Using a comprehensive and reliable dataset, the paper shifts focus from the aggregated onward journey of novice entrepreneurs (survival as the outcome) to the duration of their self-employment stints. By doing so, the paper offers insights into the process of becoming self-employed and the patterns associated with success/failure in entrepreneurship associated with self-employment duration.

This study examines the importance of 25 barriers to market entry in industrial markets. A survey of 93 firms indicates that majority of business executives consider cost advantages and capital requirements to enter markets as the two most important barriers to entry followed by incumbents having a superior production process, capital intensity of the market, and customer loyalty. The least important barriers perceived by the executives in the study are government licensing requirements, followed by heavy advertising. In addition, the study investigates the underlying dimensions of barriers to entry in industrial market through a factor analysis. The results indicate that there are four major underlying dimensions of entry barriers in industrial markets.

Catalogues of special libraries are primarily finding tools, and not repositories of exemplary cataloguing. Author and name entries, no less than subject entries, should be evaluated from the point of view of information retrieval. Multiple entries on unit cards generously used may well be justified not only on grounds of efficiency but also on grounds of economy. Stationery, duplicating, and space for extra cards are often cheaper than man‐hours spent in thinking, argument, and fruitless searches. Entries for periodical articles should not be separated from the main catalogue. Series entries in numerical order should include reasons for any deliberately excluded items. A study is made of two possible inquiries and of how far author and name entries may usefully be made for ‘sponsors’ as well as authors of publications. The use of agreed abbreviations is advocated as an economy. Biographee entries should be made in the author catalogue for studies of the work of specialist organizations. Use of book‐reviews for finding critiques of works of such organizations is suggested. Case studies of actual searches should form the basis in compiling a cataloguing code for special libraries.

The purpose of this study is to present the entry drilling process of flexible printed circuit board (FPCs) and its influence on hole quality, especially hole location accuracy. Compared with the traditional PCB drilling process, the technology of drilling FPCs is facing more problems, such as hole location accuracy, smear on the hole wall surface, burned hole wall surface, etc. Moreover, the materials of FPCs are quite different from the rigid printed circuit boards (RPCs). FPCs no longer contain glass fiber cloths to reinforce resin, resulting in flexibility. Micro-hole quality is the most important issue in FPC drilling. Suggestions were given to obtain higher hole qualities and higher FPC reliability.

The entry drilling process of FPC with different kind of entry boards was observed by a high-speed camera. The hole qualities of FPC micro-drilling, especially hole location accuracy and hole entrance quality, were measured. The relationship between entry boards and hole quality was analyzed.

Significant sliding occurred when drilling FPC with using no-entry board or pure aluminum plate entry board. On the contrary, no significant sliding occurred when using LC-110 or resin-coated aluminum foil (MVC) entry boards. The type, thickness and use-pattern of entry boards influenced hole location accuracy of FPCs seriously. In addition, entry board also influenced the micro-hole entrance quality and micro-hole diameter. The entrance quality of drilling FPC with LC-110 entry board was the best. The diameter variation of drilling FPC with MVC entry board was the smallest. The hole location accuracy decreased as the thickness of entry board increased. Thus, the best use-pattern of entry board was putting a LC-110 under MVC entry board, resulting in best entrance quality and hole location accuracy.

The technology and manufacturing of FPCs in China are obviously behind. Research of FPCs micro-drilling and research data are lacking so far. Thus, it is most necessary to improve the technology level of FPCs micro-drilling in China. Researches on hole quality, especially hole location accuracy of FPCs drilling, were performed in this paper. Suggestions were given to obtain higher hole quality of FPCs.

This paper examines the effect that foreign bank entry into China had on transaction fees and service fees charged by domestic Chinese banks.

This paper is an empirical study using financial data for listed Chinese banks collected from the China Stock Market Financial Statement Database.

This paper finds that domestic banks cut transaction fees and service fees shortly before the entry into China of foreign banks, and domestic banks did not cut transaction fees and service fees after foreign banks entered into China.

This paper does not examine any non-price strategies employed by local Chinese banks in response to the entry of foreign banks.

This is the first study to examine transaction fees and service fees charged by domestic Chinese banks in response to the entry of foreign banks into China.

Combination indexing is a method of ordering a set of terms or keywords on the syntagmatic axis rather than the paradigmatic axis. All terms applied to the document by the indexer are listed in all possible combinations to produce the index entries, and therefore the user should be able to search the index with no more knowledge of its structure beyond alphabetization. The disadvantage of combination indexing is the large number of entries produced. For n keywords, n! entries are produced. With a very few terms in each string this is not a serious problem, but when several terms are included in a string the number of entries soon reaches excessive proportions. Five terms would produce one hundred and twenty entries; seven terms, five thousand and forty entries.

Drawing on an organizational learning perspective, this paper examines the effect of levels of foreign market involvement (intensity and geographic spread) on internationalization outcomes recognizing that the moderating influence of entry-mode learning potential is not well documented in the literature on small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The sample includes 180 SMEs evenly selected from three industries: biotechnology, software and clothing (60 firms in each industry). The sampled firms employ less than 250 employees and are equally distributed between three developed economies and three emerging economies. All were engaged in foreign business.

The authors find that there is a direct relationship between levels of foreign market involvement and internationalization outcomes. Entry-mode learning potential moderates the relationship between intensity of foreign market involvement and internationalization outcomes but not the relationship between geographic spread and internationalization outcomes.

This study reveals several new insights that help explain the pathway through which foreign market involvement activities are translated into internationalization outcomes.

The authors conclude that the positive relationship between intensity of foreign market involvement and internationalization outcomes is strengthened when SMEs also use an entry mode with a higher learning potential than exporting only.

This study aims to understand the dynamics underpinning the exit and re-entry strategies adopted by multinational enterprises (MNEs) in an emerging market, Pakistan.

This study undertook an in-depth historical case study of Yamaha Motorcycles, which had initially entered Pakistan as a joint venture but had then exited and re-entered as a wholly owned subsidiary.

This study found that, despite its status as a market leader and one of the older players in the Pakistani market, changing market dynamics in the 2000s – especially the increased competition brought by more affordable (inexpensive) Chinese motorcycles and the weak enforcement of industrial policies – had pushed Yamaha Motorcycles to exit. Another factor that had contributed to its exit were differences in risk perception and strategies with its local joint venture partner (a Pakistani business group). Hence, both firm-level and institutional factors had played significant roles in Yamaha’s market exit. This study further found that re-entering in a wholly owned subsidiary operation mode had been beneficial for the firm, as it gained a significant market share due to its focus on innovation and on capturing a market niche, which had earlier not been its main focus. The findings also suggest that opportunity logics and multiple forms of learning can be important for a firm’s re-entry into a host market – such as experiential (i.e. learning from experience) and vicarious learning (i.e. learning from other organizations, including suppliers and competitors) in an emerging market context, in which institutions evolve amid political and policy uncertainty. Finally, this study found that exit and re-entry timing is an important factor for the development of competitive advantage in a host market.

This study is among the few to have investigated the exit and re-entry strategies of MNEs in emerging markets. The relatively short time during which Yamaha Motorcycles had been out of the market had benefited it on its re-entry, as the firm had been able to capitalize on its prior learning and ties to suppliers’ networks.

The article explores how servitization influences firms' foreign market entry mode decisions. This relationship is researched under the contingent effect of macroenvironmental factors in the host country, namely, market attractiveness, institutional environment and national culture differences between the home and host country.

The study employs a conceptual framework typology that interrelates, contextualizes and conceptualizes extant knowledge to develop explicit propositions.

Based on the extant literature, using a 2 × 2 matrix, the authors delineate the influence of two dimensions of servitization on entry mode decisions: customer relationship focus and digitalization focus. They conceptualize that relationship management and digitalization-based servitization have an antagonistic effect on the need for entry mode resource commitments, and macroenvironmental factors' favorability moderates this tension.

The study extends and incorporates the servitization literature into the context of international marketing by exploring the combined effect of the two most significant dimensions of servitization, i.e. investment in customer relations versus investment in digitalization on entry mode, thus delivering valuable new insights and perspectives, as well as explicit propositions toward empirical testing.

The authors’ framework increases foreign market managers' awareness of how servitization drives entry mode decisions of firms in international markets. Also, the framework explicates how the host country's market attractiveness, institutional environment and difference with the home country's national culture tangibly influence the relationship.

The study provides novel insights into the implications of servitization on international marketing, particularly regarding foreign market entry mode. The study also elucidates the combined effect of two servitization dimensions, i.e. customer relations and digitalization – a critical research area in which the literature is scant.

This paper aims to provide a wide picture of studies on heuristics for international decision-making with a focus on foreign market entry. This paper systematically reviews studies published in the international business and international marketing domain to examine heuristically based decisions for foreign market entry.

This paper proposes a systematic literature review and an in-depth analysis of 32 papers published between 1997 and 2021 dealing with foreign market entry and the use of heuristics for international decision-making.

Even if the marketing and management literature is in many ways permeable to the debate around heuristics developed in experimental psychology and cognitive science, international business and international marketing studies on the one hand recognize that international decision-making, especially when dealing with foreign market entry, is strongly characterized by uncertainty, on the other hand, there isn’t a developed and systematized literature about it. This paper shows key topics and areas fundamental to foreign market entry in which heuristics are applied by decision makers and their effectiveness.

A systematic review of the use of heuristics for foreign market entry decision-making can represent a useful step for a more organic development of knowledge about the more general use of heuristics for international decision-making. Understanding the decision-making process on the modes of entry in foreign markets is a key topic for international marketing and international business scholars and practitioners.