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This study aims to identify the determinants of transport mode choice and the constraints on shifting freight in New Zealand (NZ) from road to rail and/or coastal shipping, and to quantify the trade-off between factors affecting shippers’ perceptions, to assist in increasing the share of freight moved by non-road transport modes.

A revealed preference survey of 183 freight shippers, including small and medium enterprises and freight agents in NZ, is used to investigate whether freight shippers’ characteristics affect their ranked preference for attributes related to mode choice and modal shift. Additionally, a rank-ordered logistic (ROL) model is estimated using the ranking data.

The results reveal several distinct types of transport mode choice behaviour within the sample and show how the preferences for timeliness, cost, accessibility, damage and loss, customer service, and suitability vary between industry groups and business types. Also, the ROL method allows us to identify heterogeneity in preferences for mode choice and mode shift factors for freight within NZ.

The results imply that NZ shippers ranked transport time as the most significant constraint upon distributing goods by rail, while accessibility and load size were the most significant constraints upon using coastal shipping. The study also identifies how NZ shippers’ modal shift constraints vary according to the firm’s individual or logistical characteristics.

This study informs freight transport policy makers about the needs of NZ shippers by providing quantitative measures of the intensity of preference for the various mode choice factors.

Those involved in freight transport have a better basis for formulating transport policy.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a better understanding of the factors that influence a shipper's decision to choose air cargo as a mode of shipment.

A disaggregate multinomial discrete choice model is developed using freight shipment survey data to identify critical factors influencing air cargo mode choice. Disaggregate revealed preference data is obtained from surveying 347 manufacturers, freight forwarders, and other third-party service providers.

The empirical model developed in this research shows that the rate of shipment, time of transit, cost-per-pound shipped, quantity shipped, perishability and delay rate of the mode are significant factors that influence mode choice.

The discrete choice model developed can be improved by taking into account logistics costs not considered in this research. Perhaps more in-depth surveys of the shippers and freight forwarders are needed. Additionally, improving the mode choice model by including stated preference data and subsequently incorporating service quality latent variables would be beneficial.

Identifying the sensitivity of the shippers to various factors influencing mode selection enables transportation planners make better demand forecast for each mode of transportation.

This paper extends previous mode choice studies by analyzing mode selection between air cargo and other modes. Better forecasting is achieved by replacing the logit model with probit, heteroscedastic extreme value and mixed logit models.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a theory‐based framework that informs a fashion retailer's entry mode choice into a foreign market.

Aspects of transaction cost, bargaining, resource based, and internationalization theories were integrated to develop a conceptual framework for fashion retailers determining the best entry mode to foreign markets. Propositions were developed, which serve as bridge laws, bridging the gap between the theories and the investigation of fashion retailers' entry mode choice. A case study was used to demonstrate applicability of the developed propositions.

Three groups of factors were identified that influence entry mode choice in the fashion retail market: firm‐specific factors of asset specificity, brand equity, financial capacity, and international experience; country‐specific factors of country risk, cultural distance, and government restrictions; and market‐specific factors of market potential and market competition. Nine propositions were generated, positing how each of the factors may influence a fashion retailer's entry mode choice.

The conceptual model and propositions require further empirical investigation. Future research also needs to systematically explore the interactions or trade‐offs between different determinate factors.

A fashion retailer can use the framework and propositions to systematically evaluate the company's case to justify an entry mode decision for a specific foreign market.

This is the first paper to describe the integration of theories to help explain factors affecting fashion retailers' entry mode choice.

Integrating network attributes from studies of social networks, business relationships and small- to medium-sized enterprise (SME) internationalization, this study adopts a perceptual view of a firm’s focal “net” of relationships to examine foreign market entry mode choice. This study aims to examine how the interaction between knowledge-intensive service (KIS) firm’s network ties, embeddedness and position is related to choice of mode and subsequently the firm’s perceived insidership status within its focal net.

This research is based on qualitative interviews with 25 small- to medium-sized KIS firms engaged in direct exporting or foreign direct investment (FDI). This study derives an empirically grounded framework of four distinct network patterns of these KIS firms through an iterative process of triangulation between cases and theory.

The four network patterns illustrate the complex interaction between network attributes and entry mode choice by KIS firms. The findings suggest formal ties and centrality in closed network relationships provide the “central controller” firm discretion over their entry mode choice. Resource-intensive FDI by “opportunistic investors” proved essential to securing centrality through formal, institutional ties. Less optimal patterns lacking institutional ties and centrality, however, precluded choice of FDI by “specialized exporters” and “client followers.” The study finds that entry modes are less likely to be influenced by the firm’s embeddedness in open or closed network relationships, but rather by the desire to achieve a more central network position and legitimacy through more formal, less imitable ties.

The findings demonstrate the importance of network structure, a position of centrality, and strength of professional and institutional ties to small KIS firm internationalization. By adopting a more finely grained examination of the interaction between key attributes of the firm’s focal net, this study provides a valuable first step in conceptualizing the complexities associated with networking and adoption of export/investment internationalization modes.

There are a number of implications for the strategic and operational facets of smaller KIS firm internationalization. To avoid excessive network liability for resource-deficient SMEs, practitioners should consider network positioning as a strategic activity, with the costs associated with building and maintaining networks offset against economic- and resource-related returns.

The authors contribute to a better understanding of entry mode choices of KIS by taking a network perspective that accounts for the combined effects of different network attributes. The four network patterns identified extend current theoretical knowledge on the role of networks for entry mode choices of small KIS by highlighting that entry mode choices reflect the particular firm’s focal net and its attempt to achieve insidership status through high centrality and formal ties.

In order to be able to advance scientific knowledge, researchers should consciously explore and critically evaluate alternative explanations of the phenomena under investigation. We feel that research in the area of entry-mode choice has neglected these recommendations where it concerns the impact of cultural distance (CD) on entry-mode choice. In this article, we argue that sample idiosyncrasies, coupled with an almost blind confidence in one specific measurement of CD, have led researchers in this field to systematically overestimate the role of CD in entry-mode decisions. We argue that specific home and/or host-country characteristics are equally plausible explanatory factors for entry-mode decisions as CD and plead for a more sophisticated treatment of culture in the entry-mode choice literature.

What drives small to medium‐sized enterprises’ (SMEs’) internationalisation strategy remains a significant issue in international business research, despite the huge research efforts on this subject over the past three decades. The purpose of this paper is to investigate and compare the motives behind the equity modes of foreign market entry in Norway.

Employing a cross sectional survey, a sample of 146 firms consisting of 42 international equity joint ventures (IJVs), 53 cross‐border mergers & acquisitions (CBM&As) and 51 wholly owned subsidiaries (FWOS) from Norway was collected and analysed.

It was found that whereas market development and power influence the choice of IJVs and CBM&As, the need to access resources and control resources appear to be the most important motives behind FWOS as an entry mode choice. Moreover, the regression results indicate that market development and power, technology development, location advantage and synergistic gains appear to have a significant bearing on different entry mode choice in Norway.

The paper examines the motivation for the choice of foreign entry mode from the point of view of senior managers in Norway. Future research should accommodate multiple perspectives simultaneously from the parent companies and subsidiaries in a single paper to significantly advance the field.

The paper discovers that the motives behind the choice of cooperative modes of entry tend to be more linked with market development, technological development while FWOS are motivated by the need to control proprietary resources. The implication for the Norwegian government is that its financial incentives do not affect the mode choice of entry.

The paper finds that different motives and theories influence the choice of foreign market entry by SMEs in Norway and provides insights for senior managers on the factors taken into account in making choice decisions in Norway.

The purpose of this paper is to use the theoretical perspective of structural inertia as a unique lens to study foreign sequential entry mode choices of multinational firms.

It adopts quantitative analysis of a sample of 121 Chinese publicly listed firms with 564 foreign entry incidents in the 2001-2012 period to test the hypotheses.

The empirical results show that multinational firms have a tendency to adopt the same mode in the subsequent entry as the number of prior entry mode choice of a given type (joint venture (JV) in this study) increases. The results support the theoretical prediction that organizations repeat their past activities due to structural inertia. Moreover, such an inertia effect in foreign sequential entry mode choices becomes stronger for older multinational firms, larger multinational firms and state-owned multinational firms.

Consistent with existing research, this study focuses on the entry mode choice between JV and wholly owned subsidiaries. However, it is better to examine the relationship identified in the study for different types of entry mode choices to assess result generalizability.

It reminds managers of multinational firms that they should be cautious to the influence of structural inertia that can be a barrier to strategic flexibility when they make entry mode choices.

The main contribution of this study resides in introducing structural inertia perspective to help understand the determinants of foreign sequential entry mode choices of multinational firms.

This paper seeks to challenge the traditional wisdom that sheds light upon sequential entry modes in developed countries by exploring the dynamic entry mode choice in sequential foreign direct investment (FDI) in emerging economies.

A review of the literature on the entry mode choice is undertaken. Based on analysing two related theories consisting of the knowledge‐based theory of the firm and organizational learning theory, entry mode choices in sequential FDI in emerging economies are investigated using both an internationalisation process model and the capability‐developing perspective, and exclusive propositions are put forward accordingly. Then, these propositions are tested on the context of China with the methodology of paired‐samples t‐tests.

Based on macro‐level longitudinal data in China from 1979 to 2005, the choice of entry mode in sequential FDI in emerging economies is inconsistent with the capability‐developing theory of the firm, but is consistent with the international process model.

This study provides four practical implications. First, managers intending to invest abroad need to consider the cost and return of a specific entry mode. Second, knowledge about host markets has a more important effect on entry mode choice in emerging markets than MNCs' internal organizational capabilities. Third, MNCs adopt sequential investment in emerging economies, in which they adopt joint ventures in earlier entries and then shift to green‐field investment in later entries. Fourth, experiential learning, which consists of learning about host markets and local partners' skills, is emphasized in sequentially entering emerging markets.

This paper expands the research scope of previous studies that either explore a static choice of entry mode in foreign markets or only examine the entry mode choice in sequential FDI in developed countries. Taking into consideration the dynamic choice of entry modes, the paper studies sequential FDI in emerging economies, which throws light upon theoretical analysis of sequential FDI in China, and which has practical implications for foreign firms that are interested in China and planning to enter China's markets.

The purpose of this paper is to add to the accumulative knowledge in the field through investigating the different factors affecting the choice of export entry mode by Egyptian SMEs. An organised examination of the literature related to export entry modes by SMEs is discussed to provide and develop a clear understanding about the different factors affecting the choice of export entry mode by Egyptian SMEs. Such investigation will help in achieving a deep and reflective understanding of current exporting practises by Egyptian SMEs. The findings indicated that there is very few research studies in the literature related to the choice of export entry mode in developing countries in general and there was no published studies related to the choice of export entry mode in Egypt.

The paper reviews the published literature related to choice of export entry mode by SMEs in general and to SMEs in developing countries (e.g. Egypt) in particular. Based on this review and the results of two focus groups, the paper validates a conceptual model utilising a positivist research philosophy with a quantitative approach, in which quantitative data are collected based on survey strategy through questionnaires to address different levels of the study.

The findings showed that Egyptian SMEs owners, marketing and sales managers have a limited knowledge in relation to the different available export entry modes. The findings also illustrated that SME internal factors, local market factors and target market factors have different impacts on the choice of export entry mode and that only small number of Egyptian SMEs conducted an effective and efficient export activities.

The paper will provide great benefits for entrepreneurs, policy makers, practitioners, researchers and educators though providing a clearer view and deep understanding for the issues related to different factors affecting the choice of export entry mode by Egyptian SMEs.

The paper adds to the extremely limited number of empirical studies that has been conducted to investigate different factors affecting the choice of export entry mode by Egyptian and Developing Economies SMEs. Depending on this research, researchers and scholars in the field can have a clearer view to set their attitude towards suitable future research studies which in turn will contribute to the related accumulated knowledge in the field.

Transport is the European Union (EU) sector that produces the second highest amount of greenhouse gas emissions. In its attempts to promote the environmentally sustainable development of transport, the EU has focussed on intermodal transport in particular – but with limited success. It is important to understand how freight transport is selected, which criteria are used and what role environmental sustainability and intermodal transport play in the selection. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to focus on the role of environmental sustainability and intermodal transport in transport mode decisions. The authors look at this issue from the perspective of logistics service providers (LSPs) and buyers, as they are important stakeholders in guiding this process.

To gain a holistic view of the current state of research, the authors have conducted a systematic literature review of the role of environmental sustainability and intermodal transport in transport mode decisions. The authors have further examined the findings concerning requests for quotations (RfQs), tenders and transport contracts, as these are also linked to decisions on transport choice.

The findings from the literature review include the results of descriptive and structured content analysis of the selected articles. They show that the discussion on environmental sustainability and intermodal transport as a sustainable mode, together with the transport mode selection criteria, RfQs/tenders and transport contracts, is still a rather new and emerging topic in the literature. The main focus related to the selection of transport mode has been on utility and cost efficiency, and only recently have issues such as environmental sustainability and intermodal transport started to gain greater attention. The findings also indicate that the theoretical lenses most typically used have been preference models and total cost theories, although the theoretical base has recently become more diversified.

There is still a need to extend the theoretical and methodological base, which could then lead to innovative theory building and testing. Such diverse application of methodologies will help in understanding how environmental sustainability can be better linked to mode choice decisions.

The findings will be of interest to policy makers and companies opting for environmentally sustainable transport solutions.

If the EU, shippers and LSPs take a more active stance in promoting environmentally sustainable transformation models, this will have long-lasting societal impacts.

It seems that this systematic literature review of the topic is one of the first such attempts in the current body of literature.