Regional influences on foreign market development by business service companies: Elements of a strategic context explanation

P. N. O'Farrell, P. A. Wood, J. Zheng

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    86 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The internationalization literature - both of manufacturing and services - has concentrated upon the issue of entry, and largely ignored post-entry behaviour and market development. A major aim of this paper, therefore, is to present evidence on foreign market development by business service firms in two UK regions, Scotland and the South East of England, and the Amsterdam urban region of the Netherlands. Following a review of the relevance of the internalization approach, the development stages paradigm, network analysis and a strategic choice framework to internationalization by business services, empirical findings are presented from the three regions on trajectories of foreign market development, modal shifts, the incidence of proactive market strategies and the characteristics of major clients. A behavioural framework is proposed for decision making by business service firms developing foreign markets, identifying the elements of a strategic context explanation. ©1998 Regional Studies Association.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)31-48
    Number of pages18
    JournalRegional Studies
    Volume32
    Issue number1
    Publication statusPublished - 1998

    Keywords

    • British regions and the Netherlands
    • Business services
    • Foreign market development
    • Strategic context

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