The Internet and foreign market entry mode : some evidence from Hong Kong

Perspectives on entry mode choice are broad, emphasising different tenets and variables. However, none of them has examined the impact of the Internet, which has emerged since the 1980s. The thesis aims to investigate to what extent differing Internet usage impacts on foreign market entry mode choice, the achievement of a web site and the performance of a firm. The different Internet uses include using what the technology offers to businesses, getting ready for Internet business by disseminating information online and providing online customer service, and selling products and services online. Propositions are compiled and tested by using data collected with a structured questionnaire in a survey of 569 Hong Kong firms. Some pilot case studies were conducted to motivate the construction of the questionnaire. Sample firms were selected from the Hong Kong Business Web Directory 2000 and www.yahoo.com.hk. Data obtained through the questionnaire were analysed with the use of hierarchical logistic regression and hierarchical multiple regression models. It was found that firm size does not affect entry mode choice when the Internet is used, and having previous international experience is not a prerequisite for a firm to choose equity modes. Using what the Internet offers businesses and selling products and services online have a significant negative and positive impact on equity mode choice respectively. Findings on other variables such as special abilities, market potential, investment risk, and transaction cost are all influential by the use of the Internet, but their effects are less significant. In the examination of the achievement of a web site, special abilities, having previous international experience and using the Internet to sell products and services were found to have significant positive effects; while investment risk and industry type have significant negative effects. In the examination of the performance of firms, special abilities, using what the Internet offers businesses and getting ready for Internet business were found to have significant positive effects. In comparison, transaction cost and mode type have significant negative effects. Overall, the pattern of findings suggest that Internet usage has important positive and negative effects upon entry mode choice and a range of variables concerning foreign market entry choice, at least from the sample of Hong Kong organisations. The main contributions of the present research are three-fold. First, it has examined the impact of different uses of the Internet on entry mode choice. The findings on the impact of firm size and previous international experience pose challenge to prior perspectives. When the Internet is used in firms' internationalisation, both small and large firms may follow the same pattern. Firms' previous international experience is no longer as important as in prior studies. This has implications for the ways in which prior entry mode perspectives embrace the relative new technology. Secondly, it has investigated these uses in great detail. Prior research depicts different commercial uses of the Internet. In the present research, pilot case studies and surveys were adopted to examine these uses and their impact on entry mode choice. Thirdly, a method was suggested in the present research to measure these uses

The Internet and foreign market entry mode : some evidence from Hong Kong

Perspectives on entry mode choice are broad, emphasising different tenets and variables. However, none of them has examined the impact of the Internet, which has emerged since the 1980s. The thesis aims to investigate to what extent differing Internet usage impacts on foreign market entry mode choice, the achievement of a web site and the performance of a firm. The different Internet uses include using what the technology offers to businesses, getting ready for Internet business by disseminating information online and providing online customer service, and selling products and services online. Propositions are compiled and tested by using data collected with a structured questionnaire in a survey of 569 Hong Kong firms. Some pilot case studies were conducted to motivate the construction of the questionnaire. Sample firms were selected from the Hong Kong Business Web Directory 2000 and www.yahoo.com.hk. Data obtained through the questionnaire were analysed with the use of hierarchical logistic regression and hierarchical multiple regression models. It was found that firm size does not affect entry mode choice when the Internet is used, and having previous international experience is not a prerequisite for a firm to choose equity modes. Using what the Internet offers businesses and selling products and services online have a significant negative and positive impact on equity mode choice respectively. Findings on other variables such as special abilities, market potential, investment risk, and transaction cost are all influential by the use of the Internet, but their effects are less significant. In the examination of the achievement of a web site, special abilities, having previous international experience and using the Internet to sell products and services were found to have significant positive effects; while investment risk and industry type have significant negative effects. In the examination of the performance of firms, special abilities, using what the Internet offers businesses and getting ready for Internet business were found to have significant positive effects. In comparison, transaction cost and mode type have significant negative effects. Overall, the pattern of findings suggest that Internet usage has important positive and negative effects upon entry mode choice and a range of variables concerning foreign market entry choice, at least from the sample of Hong Kong organisations. The main contributions of the present research are three-fold. First, it has examined the impact of different uses of the Internet on entry mode choice. The findings on the impact of firm size and previous international experience pose challenge to prior perspectives. When the Internet is used in firms' internationalisation, both small and large firms may follow the same pattern. Firms' previous international experience is no longer as important as in prior studies. This has implications for the ways in which prior entry mode perspectives embrace the relative new technology. Secondly, it has investigated these uses in great detail. Prior research depicts different commercial uses of the Internet. In the present research, pilot case studies and surveys were adopted to examine these uses and their impact on entry mode choice. Thirdly, a method was suggested in the present research to measure these uses.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Casting a Wide Net: Online Activities of Small and New Businesses in the United States

Examines trends in businesses' use of Web sites and e-mail, online sales, and outcomes of such online activities by industry, age and size of firm, and owners' race/ethnicity, gender, location, and education

Investigating e-business practices in tourism :a comparative analysis of three countries

This study examined the behaviour of tourist companies in relation to the adoption of e-business technologies and applications. The study aimed to identify groups of companies with homogenous behaviour among three European countries (Greece, Portugal and Norway). Based on data from a European survey, the study employed two-step cluster analysis which revealed 14 clusters of common behaviour (five clusters in Greece, five in Portugal and four in Norway). These clusters were named as: Leaders’ ‘Technology Experts’, ‘Fast Adopters’ ‘Beginners’, ‘Late Adopters’. In Norway, the group ‘Late Adopters’ also included companies characterised as ‘Beginners’ in the other two countries. We suggest further investigation among European countries in order to reveal more groups of similar behaviour toward e-business adoption

Small Business Administration and Job Creation

[Excerpt] The Small Business Administration (SBA) administers several programs to support small businesses, including loan guaranty programs, disaster loan programs, management and technical assistance training programs, and federal contracting programs. Congressional interest in these programs has increased in recent years, primarily because they are viewed as a means to stimulate economic activity and create jobs. This report examines the economic research on net job creation to identify the types of businesses that appear to create the most jobs. That research suggests that business startups play an important role in job creation, but have a more limited effect on net job creation over time because fewer than half of all startups are still in business after five years. However, the influence of small business startups on net job creation varies by firm size. Startups with fewer than 20 employees tend to have a negligible effect on net job creation over time whereas startups with 20-499 employees tend to have a positive employment effect, as do surviving younger businesses of all sizes (in operation for one year to five years). This report then examines the possible implications this research might have for Congress and the SBA. For example, the SBA provides assistance to all qualifying businesses that meet its size standards. About 97% of all businesses currently meet the SBA’s eligibility criteria. Given congressional interest in job creation, this report examines the potential consequences of targeting small business assistance to a narrower group, small businesses that are the most likely to create and retain the most jobs. In addition, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has recommended that the SBA use outcome-based program performance measures, such as how well the small businesses do after receiving SBA assistance, rather than focusing on output-based program performance measures, such as the number of loans approved and funded. GAO has argued that using outcome-based program performance measures would better enable the SBA to determine the impact of its programs on participating small businesses. Given congressional interest in job creation, this report examines the potential consequences of adding net job creation as an outcome-based SBA program performance measure. This report also examines the arguments for providing federal assistance to small businesses, noting that policymakers often view job creation as a justification for such assistance whereas economists argue that over the long term federal assistance to small businesses is likely to reallocate jobs within the economy, not increase them. Nonetheless, most economists support federal assistance to small businesses for other purposes, such as a means to correct a perceived market failure related to the disadvantages small businesses experience when attempting to access capital and credit

Understanding Small Business Networking and ICTs: Exploring Face-to-Face and ICT-related opportunity creation mediated by Social Capital in East of England Micro-businesses

Small businesses that are sole traders or micro-businesses—with few, if any employees notoriously suffer from a ‘liability of smallness’ (Aldrich and Auster 1986), including poor access to various resources. However, many authors argue that the inherent problems of smallness can be overcome with networking and good network connections. Resources, the opportunities to access them and other benefits apparent from networks and networking are readily apparent in the literature. However, few articles, if any, have examined small business networking from the perspective of this study—using in-depth qualitative methods, the theoretical construct of social capital and exploring the increasing role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in networks and networking—as part of understanding a variety of entrepreneurial opportunities. This article provides much needed empirical insights on how and if ICTs support opportunity creation amongst small businesses within a spatial and social network perspective. Its ‘media ecology’ approach does not over-prioritise the role of ICTs, but instead examines their interrelationships with face-to-face contact—putting technology in its ‘place’. The article focuses on the notion of ‘opportunity creation’ from networks, since this is the outcome critical for the small businesses themselves in order to generate economic benefits for their business. It seeks to provide a higher level, outcomebased framework that helps specify the various sorts of opportunities created by networks for small businesses, based on original ethnographic material and findings from a case study of East of England micro-businesses

COMPUTER ADOPTION PATTERNS OF U.S. SMALL BUSINESSES

This paper analyzes computer adoption patterns of U.S. small businesses. First, the association between computer use and firm performance is investigated with a linear model while controlling for various characteristics of the firm and its owner. Then an ordered probit model is used to model small business computer adoption decision. And computer adoption portfolios are also analyzed at the end.Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,