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The purpose of this study is to explore market entry strategies in a high-tech successive generations (HTSGs) market, by investigating entry mode via entry timing and path differentiation and the performance outcomes of entry mode.

The methodology of building a theory from a longitudinal case study is adopted by using useful cases in a HTSGs market after constructing an integrated research framework to explore market entry mode. Different entry modes were investigated by studying entry timing and migration path of three firms’ case in logic semiconductor market. In addition, performance outcomes of different entry modes were measured and correlated with each other.

The results identified three major entry modes suitable for a HTSGs market. The three firms differentiated their entry modes by exploiting different entry timings from the earliest to the last and different migration paths including switching, leapfrogging and new entrance path to enter a market. First mover advantage also exists in a HTSGs market, and it was found uniquely that the financial performance denoted by entry mode outcomes was correlated with technological knowledge.

This study extends the theory of extant entry strategy from general consumer or industrial market to HTSGs market, in which intense competition exits and technological innovation is important. Moreover, this study verified that the causality between early entry and positive performance was also effective in HTSGs market with a shorter duration of early entry advantage.

This study has managerial implications for firms to establish market entry strategy in HTSGs market and other markets. To become a product leader, a fast follower or a late follower, firms can differentiate their entry mode by adjusting the entry timing and migration path in the context of market and technology.

This study examined market entry strategies suitable for HTSGs market based on its unique characteristics and extended relevant theory into HTSGs market. Further, an integrated research framework, which explores the market entry mode, was constructed to facilitate further exploration of entry mode into other markets.

Strategy and marketing scholars look at strategic issues from different points of view and attempt to explain strategic choice and performance from their unique perspectives. This paper combines these perspectives in the context of international ventures and develops a conceptual framework integrating international marketing strategy decisions with entry mode decisions. The resulting contingency framework extends the hierarchical entry‐mode decision model and allows for a better specification of the strategy‐performance relationship in international business.

The purpose of this study is to develop a conceptual framework for defensive strategy by integrating market entry modes and the typology of firms suggested by Day and Nedungandi, and to attempt to propose how local incumbent firms utilize their mental models in order to react against market entry of new competition in global markets.

The theoretical perspective adopted in the study is how mental models used by incumbent firms influence their reaction to market entry of new competition in developing defensive strategies to defend their markets.

Mental models of incumbent firms, categorized as self‐centered, competitor‐centered, customer‐oriented, and market‐driven firms, impact their reaction and the development of defensive marketing strategies against market entrants using a variety of market entry modes in global markets.

The paper presents an extensive review of the defensive marketing and mental models literature and shows how the way in which incumbent firms react to market entry of new competition contributes to understanding of incumbent reaction to market entry of new competition in global markets. Research directions for future research and managerial implications are also provided.

This paper aims to present a new framework that describes the relationship among market entry order and timing, the advantages accruing to first-movers and late-movers, entry timing premium (ETP), marketing strategy and enduring market performance of the firms. The framework, empirically tested using data from 241 business executives, expands extant research into new territory beyond first- and late-mover advantages in an attempt to reconcile a few streams of research in the area and provides an entry related, strategic assessment tool (ETP) for the managers. Contribution to marketing strategy theory and managerial implications are also presented.

Participants included informants in a firm’s strategic business unit who were the most familiar with a new product’s commercial launch, market condition at launch, competitor offerings, marketing activities and capabilities and eventual integration into or withdrawal from the product’s portfolio. Therefore, for the survey, the study targeted chief executive officers, vice presidents of marketing or sales, product or sales managers, general managers and regional managers. Both preference bias (Narus, 1984) and survivor biases among the respondents were addressed.

The research result of this study reveals two very significant aspects of marketing and marketing strategies. First, the importance of financial, pricing and cost strategies further attests to the fiercely competitive nature of the global market today and the tendency for firms to commoditize most products and services. An effective financial and pricing strategy, coupled with a higher level of ETP, is capable of leading a firm to initial market success in the product-market in which it competes. Both ETP (a positional advantage and resource of the firm) and financial and pricing strategies (a deliberate strategic decision of the management) are important to achieve this goal.

This study is limited in several ways. The effects of entry order and timing on market performance could be dependent on the types of industries and types of product categories involved. However, as the hypotheses were well supported, the “industry specific” factors would provide “fine-tuning” in the future study. Second, the nature of the product (goods or services) may also present varying effects on the relationship studied (for differences between manufacturing and service firms in pioneering advantages, see Song et al., 1999). Services’ intangible nature, difficulty in protecting property rights, high involvement of boundary-spanning employees and customers, high reliance on delivery and quality, and ease of imitation may alter the proposed relationships in the model and the moderating effects. Third, although this study used a “retrospective” protocol approach in the data collection by encouraging respondents to recall market, product and business information, this study is not longitudinal. Lack of longitudinal data in any study involving strategic planning, strategy execution and the long-term effects is no doubt a weakness. In addition, due to peculiarity and complexity with regard to regulation and other aspects in pharmaceutical and other industries, the theory might be limited to a certain extent.

In all, the integrated framework contributes to the understanding of the intricate issues surrounding first-mover advantage, late-mover advantage, entry order and timing and the role of marketing strategy. The framework provides practitioners guidance as to when to enter a product-market to gain advantageous positions and how to maintain that advantage. Firms that use a deliberate late-mover strategy could also benefit from the research finding in mapping out their strategic courses of action.

This study believes that the halo effect surrounding first-mover advantage may have obscured the visions of some researchers and managers, and the pursuit of a silver bullet has led to frenzied interests in becoming a “first-mover” or a deliberate “late-mover”. The theoretical framework, which is substantiated by empirical testing, invalidates the long-held claim that entry of a particular kind (first-movers or late-movers) yields any unique competitive advantage. It is a firms’ careful selection of marketing strategies and careful execution of the strategies through effective operational tactics that would lead to enduring competitive advantage, under an adequate level of ETP.

Return-entry is understudied in the disaster science literature. This paper provides an overview of the return-entry process, identifies key factors informing the selection of return strategy, proposes a simple classification of return strategies and offers ideas for advancing research in this area.

This paper explores previous research and recent return-entry processes in order to advance understanding of strategies emergency managers employ and decisions they make when managing the return movement of evacuees home after disasters.

The paper offers new insights into the management of the return movement, proposes primary factors considered when developing return strategies and offers a framework for the selection of strategies utilized by emergency managers.

Given that return-entry is a burgeoning area of inquiry in disaster science, this paper advances knowledge and understanding of return-entry movements after disasters and outlines key research needs.

The purpose of this paper is to take a strategic perspective on how MNEs in the retail sector decide to enter a new market. Drawing on transaction cost theory, the contingency approach and resource-based theory, the implications of the interplay between global strategy, cultural distance and entry mode strategies are examined by means of an analysis of Carrefour’s global expansion.

To account for the shortcomings of prior research, a hypothesis in the relationship between entry modes and cultural distance is tested empirically using a sample of 44 foreign market entries by Carrefour over the 40 last years. The paper uses a quantitative approach, i.e., logistic regressions. To measure cultural distance, the authors rely on the GLOBE dimensions and the Kogut-Singh Index.

The findings suggest a positive relationship between a resource commitment, entry mode strategy and cultural distance for Carrefour. However, these findings are contrary to the mainstream argument that high cultural distance is related to entry strategies based on relatively low resource commitment. The authors explain these findings by integrating a cultural distance perspective with Carrefour’s overall global expansion strategy.

Because of the chosen research approach, the research results may lack generalizability.

The paper provides insights into why prior research on cultural distance and entry modes has yielded mixed results. From a strategic viewpoint, the paper stresses the particularities of the retail sector and how retailers try to account for cultural distance in their entry mode decisions.

By focussing on a single company instead of a meta-analysis, the analysis demonstrates how the search for strategic consistency and the particularities of the retail sector reverse a well-investigated theoretical assumption. The main originality of the paper is that it shows the implications of the interplay between cultural distance and entry mode as being part of the retail firm’s overall global expansion strategy.

Few researchers and even fewer practitioners would deny that serendipitous events play a central role in the growth process of firms. However, most international marketing models ignore the role of serendipity in the opportunity discovery process. The authors provide a nuanced view on international opportunities by developing the role of serendipitous opportunities in the foreign market entry process. The authors develop a model integrating the notions of serendipity, entrepreneurial logic, experiential knowledge and network knowledge redundancy. From the study’s model, the authors condense three sets of hypotheses on the relationships among experiential knowledge and entry strategy, network knowledge redundancy, entry strategy and serendipity.

The authors confront the study’s hypotheses with data collected on-site at 168 Swedish firms covering 234 opportunities, and to test the hypotheses, the authors ran ordinary least squares (OLS) regression tests in three steps.

The results of the study’s analysis reveal that experiential knowledge and network knowledge redundancy both lead to a logic based on rigid planning and systematic search, which in turn reduces the likelihood that serendipitous opportunities will be realized in the foreign market entry process.

This is the first study that develops a measure of opportunities that are the outcome of serendipitous events. In addition, the authors integrate network and learning theories and internationalization theory by establishing antecedents to, and outcomes of, the entry strategy.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the interaction between a profit maximising mortgagor and a newcomer to a mortgage market with Bertrand competition where the newcomer has a populistic entry strategy and undercuts mortgage market rates. The intention of the paper is to relate the populistic entry strategy to mortgage market characteristics and the strategic market position of both the established mortgagor and the newcomer in question.

The paper analyses a mortgage market by combining the behaviour of a profit maximising mortgagor with that of a newcomer to the mortgage market which has a populistic entry strategy and does not maximise profits. The short-run market solution provides comparative statics on the strategic market position of both the established mortgagor and the newcomer to the mortgage market during the entry phase both related to product differentiation and to price mirroring and undercutting of mortgage rates.

The model finds a mortgage market solution where a lower mortgage rate helps the newcomer gain a customer base. As the newcomer's strategy to mirror prices makes it unable to pass-through funding cost to its mortgage rate, the strategy is unsustainable over time. The established mortgagor has a strategically beneficial position as the mortgage market rates only relate to its funding cost. Unless the newcomer has a funding cost advantage, the established mortgagor has a higher interest rate margin. Differentiation impacts the newcomers’ interest rate margin positively. If the newcomer lacks a funding cost advantage, there is a critical mirroring rate that ensures it a higher interest rate margin. The higher the newcomers’ own funding cost, the higher is the upper bound for price mirroring, relating market entry to a small undercutting of mortgage rates and a mortgage market with weak competition. The funding cost of the established mortgagor pulls pricing in the opposite direction, allowing for a lower mirroring rate and tougher mortgage market competition during entry.

The paper aims to contribute to the understanding of market equilibrium in the absence of profit maximising behaviour. Framing a mortgage market in terms of a duopoly where a newcomer enters with a populistic entry strategy offering a lower mortgage rate and a mortgage product with a different loan-to-value (LTV) ratio, a novel mortgage market case comes about. The populistic entry strategy produces an augmented reaction curve, crucial for the mortgage market rates.

This study aims to investigate whether the contract manufacturer (CM) should take the first-mover advantage in the end-product without supplying core components to the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) immediately, or should fully squeeze the benefit of the learning effect through an amplified production quantity by letting the OEM enter the end-product market early.

The authors propose a two-period model for a supply chain consisting of a CM and an OEM where the CM has four alternative entry strategies concerning it competition to the OEM in the end-product market. For each strategy, the authors derive the equilibrium solutions of the two firms using a backward approach. Comparison leads to the CM’s final choices among the four strategies.

For both CM and OEM, the monopoly and the first-entry strategies will be dominated by either the post-entry or the simultaneous-entry strategy, and thus, their preferred strategy is chosen from the latter two. Regarding the two firms choices between the post- and simultaneous-entry strategy, the CM prefers the post-entry strategy when the OEMs brand premium is at a moderate level, whereas the OEM prefers the post-entry strategy when its brand premium is low, and the learning effect can amplify the interval for the CMs adopting the post-entry strategy as well as changes the interval for the OEMs preference related to the two strategies.

This paper is the first one to explore the optimal strategy for a CM to maximize its profit in a co-opetitive supply chain situation with a CM and an OEM. The authors believe that our paper contributes to both literature and the market.

The purpose of this paper is to examine internationalising luxury fashion retailers’ entry and post-entry expansion strategies in mainland China.

The study adopts a pragmatic mixed-methods research approach, including a quantitative mail survey and qualitative face-to-face in-depth executive interviews.

Different from initial single entry methods, multiple methods are increasingly popular for luxury fashion retailers’ post-entry expansion in mainland China. Although directly controlled expansion strategies have become significant, local partnerships are still important and omnichannel distribution strategies are rapidly growing.

The findings were generated in mainland China only.

This work provides an understanding of luxury fashion retailers’ activities in the Chinese market from both macro and micro perspectives. It examines luxury fashion retailers’ initial entry strategies, as well as their post-entry expansion strategies in mainland China. Few studies in the area of international luxury fashion retailing have employed a mixed-methods approach with this number of participants.