국제화와 해외시장진출형태에 관한 연구

A Study on Internationalization and Market Entry Mode

In the field of international business, the question of international entry mode seems to attract most attention by researchers. There are at least three reasons for this great interest: First, entry mode is one of the core components of the internationalization concept. Accordingly, research on the firm's internationalization process will to a large extent include the international entry-mode choice. Second, the choice of the correct entry mode for a particular foreign market is one of the most critical decisions for firms in international marketing. Third, the theoretical contributions have been more advanced in the area of foreign entry mode than in other topics of the firm's internationalization process. Several frameworks identifying different constructs that influence the entry mode decision have been developed and empirically tested. The existing literature has not reached to and agreement on which conceptual framework and constructs that should be used to explain a firm's foreign market entry mode. A unifying conceptual framework is needed within which different factors can be placed and the relationships between them analyzed. The purpose of this paper is to review some of the conceptual frameworks on foreign market entry mode. The paper is organized as follows: First, the relationship between the internationalization process concept and foreign market entry mode is discussed. Then the following conceptual frameworks are presented: Entry mode as a chain of establishment, the transaction cost approach, the eclectic framework, and the resource-based perspective. Finally, the different frameworks are compared and direction for future research is illuminated.