Internationalization of business services: An interregional analysis

Internationalization behaviour by business service firms in Scotland and the South East of England is analysed. Evidence is outlined on level of internationalization, time profile of entry into foreign markets, location of foreign markets, mode of entry into first and largest foreign markets, and behavioural aspects of international market selection and entry mode choice. Initial foreign market entries occurred in the early 1960s with South East business service organizations entering foreign markets earlier, while there was a surge in internationalization by Scottish businesses after 1988. Few firms engaged in a process of explicitly choosing a foreign market to enter since the most common entry mechanism was responding to a particular ad hoc order. Similarly almost 70% of firms made the mode choice decision without considering any alternative modes.