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This chapter develops a multi-path theory of diversified international expansion that explains how multiple wave-shaped performance curves are created as multinational companies expand into increasingly distant and dissimilar countries. According to this theory, multinational mobile network operators (MNOs) recover from over-diversified expansion by improving their local adaptation strategies by means of reconfiguring the value chain and entering local partnerships, by improving their global replication capabilities or by concentrating expansion to clusters of similar country markets. Three dynamic propositions are developed and exemplified concerning MNOs’ diversified international expansion. Implications for international diversification research finalize the chapter.

Research on international experience notes its positive influence on subsequent international expansion by firms. We test this relationship in the context of the Indian software industry whose offerings, unlike many other services, are storable implying that delivery can be separated from production.

We analyzed the domestic expansion of a sample of publicly listed Indian software firms over the period 2000–2009 with help of Poisson regression.

We find that even internationally experienced Indian software firms might prefer to expand domestically because of limited financial and managerial resources and concerns about diluting their cost advantage. The storable and separable nature of software services will support this strategy of serving clients remotely. The domestic expansion of assets will, however, be slower for firms with the highest level of industry accreditation. It will also be slower if there are institutional pressures in the form of rivals locating development centers near clients in developed countries.

Our results demonstrate that international experience alone is not sufficient for firms to expand overseas.

Strategy deals with decisions about the scope of the firm and related choices about how to compete in various businesses. As such, research in strategy entails the analysis of discrete choices that may not be independent of each other. In this paper, we review the methodological implications of modeling such choices and propose conditional, nested, mixed logit, and hazard rate models as solutions to the issues that arise from non-independence among strategic choices. We describe applications with an emphasis on international strategy, an area where firms face a multiplicity of choices with respect to both location and mode of entry.

In this chapter, we embrace the recent phenomenon of early internationalizing firms with the goal of understanding these firms in light of decades of research on multinational firms, which has long stressed liabilities of foreignness. It is often implicitly assumed that the only way to reduce liabilities of foreignness is by doing business in foreign markets and learning about the local business environment. However, in this chapter, we focus on several distinctive antecedent firm characteristics that have been shown to facilitate early international expansion by firms, but which are not commonly considered in the international business literature. We perform a systematic review of the literature on early internationalizing firms (following David & Han, 2004), based on the seminal work of Oviatt and McDougall (1994) to guide our analysis of early internationalizing firms and to identify important ways in which these firms differ from multinational firms. We argue that long-standing arguments about the impact of liabilities of foreignness on firm foreign expansion apply to newly internationalizing firms, but that these liabilities are reduced by the experiences and knowledge of the founders and top managers in these firms acquired prior to the inception of these firms.

This study examines the effect of a firm's level of intra-regional sales in the triad markets of North American, Europe, and Asia on its performance. The form of the relationship is explored. The results show that there exists a strong positive relationship between a firm's level of intra-regional sales and its performance (measured by return on equity (ROE) and return on assets, (ROA)). A firm tends to perform better when it has its sales in the home region of the triad. The hypothesis that there exists a non-linear relationship (second- and third-order curvilinear relationship) between performance and intra-regional sales is not supported.

The purpose of this study is to provide an integrated framework that conceptualizes multifaceted antecedents pertaining to international expansion of emerging market businesses in relation to firm performance. This paper develops multiple-item measures of multiple dimensions to clarify ownership structure and three diversification strategy relationships to performance. We test how ownership structure and diversification strategy affect emerging market multinational enterprises’ financial performance. The result shows that the relationship between ownership structure and firm performance is a nonlinear relationship (S shape). We also found that excessive international diversification, product diversification, and geographic scope of the expansion process negatively moderate the impact of Asia Pacific multinational enterprises’ performance.

The purpose of this chapter is to offer instructors and students a real managerial dilemma faced by a large Brazilian company in the cosmetics industry as it ventures into the European arena after successful expansion in Latin America.

This is a teaching case for use in class discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of certain courses of internationalization, in particular, standardization versus adaptation of the marketing mix, the choice of entry and operation modes, and the management of international acquisitions.

Since this is a teaching case, there are no “findings” in the usual sense of the word related to traditional empirical studies.

Data for the case came mainly from the manifested perspectives of the company’s Vice-president of International Operations, complemented by the opinions of the company’s Senior Manager of Strategic Planning and of a business analyst of the cosmetic industry, which has been following the company for years. Such data may reflect the particular views of these actors. The authors also used public secondary data from the company’s presentations to the public, consulting companies, and business magazines. Although these accounts may be partial, this is not a severe limitation since a teaching case is expected to provide some information, but not a full set of information, in order to reflect better the real context of managerial decisions.

This teaching case study can help students reflect upon a real managerial dilemma related to international expansion of a firm into psychically distant markets.

This teaching case discusses how an emerging market firm can challenge strong incumbents in developed markets and find a viable positioning, based on a distinctive sales model and value proposition for customers.

How do you efficiently design a global yet local user experience for Web sites? Arguably, the user-centered design approach has been one of the best methods in designing a successful user experience for Web services in the initial market, but why isn’t this process applied to international markets? This chapter makes a case for applying a user-centered design process to the international expansion of Web sites and discusses issues impacting the creation of a successful user experience for local audiences. Although this chapter primarily focuses on designing large scale Web services, many of the principles can be applied to any sites that undergo internationalization.

In recent years, there has been an upsurge in firms entering the international market at increasingly early age. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates that more than a quarter of the world's small manufacturing firms enter international markets within 10 years of their founding and derive a substantial percentage of their revenue from foreign sources (OECD, 1997). In addition, between 1 and 2% of small manufacturing firms are estimated to be international at inception – that is, within 2 years of their founding (OECD, 1997). Being new and proactively international at the same time, international entrepreneurial firms seem to contradict prevailing theories that see internationalization as a gradual process (McDougall, Shane, & Oviatt, 1994).

This chapter examines the specific role of strategic communication as a facilitator for business internationalization. It provides a new and comprehensive rationale for explaining the contribution of strategic communication to the global success of companies and shows communication leaders how they could demonstrate the value of communication for internationalization.

The chapter identifies an important contribution of strategic communication in today’s globalized world, which demands further attention in academia and in practice by addressing three research questions: (1) How can strategic communication be conceptualized as part of the internationalization of firms? (2) Which specific objectives, responsibilities and practices can be assigned to strategic communication within the process of internationalization? (3) Does the theoretical framework capture the significant components of strategic communication within internationalization, appropriately from the point of view of senior experts in the field?

The chosen approach is conceptual and empirical. A cross-disciplinary literature analysis has been performed to construct a framework that links possible forms and manifestations of strategic communication to different situations of international business development. Qualitative interviews with senior communication executives were conducted to verify the plausibility of the theoretical framework from a professional point of view. The study identifies four core fields of strategic communication within the internationalization processes: initiation, transformation, expansion and integration. Communication should be implemented differently within the typical periods of internationalization, and communication management should focus on different aspects during these processes. Empirical findings indicate that the core fields depicted in the framework are either already applied in practice or perceived as plausible and doable.

From a theoretical standpoint, this study emphasizes the value of a cross-disciplinary perspective on corporate communications, which helps to bridge gaps between management research and communication studies. The study expands the body of knowledge in strategic communication by integrating new objectives and activities.