Augmenting versus exploiting entry modes in soft services
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address foreign market entry mode as a way to enhance firm’s knowledge base, providing new insights into traditional explanations of entry mode choice for soft services. The authors offer an alternative knowledge-based approach to assess foreign investment decisions by considering the role of resource-augmenting (direct investment) and resource-exploiting strategies (licenses). In addition, the authors untie the type of experiential knowledge, i.e., host country and mode experience, to analyze its interactions with environmental uncertainties such as cultural distance. Design/methodology/approach – Based on a customized database of the Spanish Glob…
Service characteristics as moderators of the entry mode choice: empirical evidence in the hotel industry
Although a considerable amount of research has explored the entry mode choice, results regarding the direct influence of some variables on the entry mode choice evince a lack of a clear consistency. By introducing the moderator effect of the nature of the services being provided by the firm, we explain some of these inconclusive results. We use a comprehensive database on the Spanish hotel industry which covers nearly all the operations carried out by the majority of Spanish hotel chains up to 2011. We found that both intangibility and complexity of the services offered by the hotel moderate the relationship between environmental uncertainties and entry mode choice by increasing the propens…
Ethical preferences for influencing superiors: A 41-society study
With a 41-society sample of 9990 managers and professionals, we used hierarchical linear modeling to investigate the impact of both macro-level and micro-level predictors on subordinate influence ethics. While we found that both macro-level and micro-level predictors contributed to the model definition, we also found global agreement for a subordinate influence ethics hierarchy. Thus our findings provide evidence that developing a global model of subordinate ethics is possible, and should be based upon multiple criteria and multilevel variables. Journal of International Business Studies (2009) 40, 1022–1045. doi:10.1057/jibs.2008.109
A microeconometric analysis of the springboard subsidiary: The case of Spanish firms
Abstract This paper provides a microeconometric analysis of the distinctive characteristics of springboard subsidiaries that have a positive impact on the subsidiaries’ performance. Based on panel data estimations for subsidiaries of European multinational companies with a presence in Spain, the authors found that if the subsidiary is located in the springboard country, then the performance improvement (increase in profit margin) of the subsidiary is about 49 percentage points. When the Spanish subsidiary is considered a springboard subsidiary, its performance is 7.7 percentage points higher than the performance of other subsidiaries that are not springboard subsidiaries. If the subsidiary …
Do we really know the predictors of competence-creating R&D subsidiaries? Uncovering the mediation of dual network embeddedness
Abstract Many changes have been recorded in the R&D role played by the foreign subsidiaries of multinational corporations (MNCs), to the extent that today many are recognised as key players in the development of firm innovation-related competences. Given this trend, we examine the predictors of a subsidiary's R&D role as a competence-creating contributor to the MNC's long-term success. Traditionally, the predictors of subsidiaries' R&D roles have been sought in the specific features of the internal corporate and external host-country environments. However, we find that favourable corporate- and country-level conditions may not necessarily lead to the enhancement of a subsidiary's R&D role u…
Entry mode choice in the internationalisation of the hotel industry: a holistic approach
This paper empirically investigates the entry mode choice in the hotel industry. Based on more than 1200 entry decisions, which covers practically all operations carried out by the majority of Spanish hotel chains up to 2009, the study attempts to (a) identify the factors that influence the mode choice of incorporating each new hotel within the chain and (b) to reflect the specific nature of the hotel industry with regard to the results obtained from samples of other industries. The results suggest the importance of considering a holistic approach that facilitates the understanding of a complex phenomenon which is not always explained just by efficiency considerations. Additionally, the res…
Knowledge sharing and subsidiary R&D mandate development: A matter of dual embeddedness
Sharing knowledge across borders has proven to be especially relevant to multinational corporations (MNCs). Foreign subsidiaries have become active players in these knowledge flows. However, the network effects of interacting with multiple agents on the evolution of the R&D role played by subsidiaries are still undeveloped. The present study focuses on changes in subsidiary capabilities and on the dynamic mechanisms by which their R&D role might evolve, especially, as a consequence of their interaction with a variety of knowledge networks. We examine this issue by conducting four longitudinal case studies of subsidiaries operating in Spain. Using an inductive approach to theory building, we…