An Empirical Study on Entry Mode of Korean Internet Firms

This study is to test the determinants of entry mode for entering overseas markets based on 92 Korean international IT firms. After reviewing previous studies, company s characters, industry s characters, and market environmental factors are considered as research model. The study framework includes eight variables: firm s size, international business experience, service inseparability, asset specificity, cultural distance, market growth, country risk, and investment incentive policy. Entry modes are divided into export and foreign direct investment. The researcher concludes that the great international business experience, the high service inseparability and the high asset specificity are related to the entry mode of foreign direct investment, and high country risk is related to the export entry mode. However the firm s size, the cultural distance, the market growth, and the investment incentive policy are statistically insignificant in relation to entry mode.