Internationalisierung von Dienstleistungsunternehmen – ein Vergleich der Internationalisierung von Dienstleistungs- und Produktionsunternehmen in der Schweiz

In der Schweizer Wirtschaft hat der Dienstleistungssektor einen grossen Anteil am Aussenhandel und an den Auslandinvestitionen gewonnen. Die Exportförderungsmassnahmen konzentrieren sich indes hauptsächlich auf die Internationalisierung von Produktionsunternehmen. Aus der Literatur ist nicht klar ersichtlich, ob sich das Internationalisierungsverhalten von Dienstleistungs- und Produktionsfirmen unterscheidet und ob die Förderungsmethoden angepasst werden sollten. Die vorliegende Studie beschreibt die Internationalisierung schweizerischer Beratungs-, Informatik- und Schulungsunternehmen und vergleicht sie mit dem Verhalten von Produktionsunternehmen aus der Nahrungsmittel-, Textilund Chemieindustrie. Die Ergebnisse zeigen auf, dass die psychologische Distanz von Auslandmärkten für die Dienstleister eine grössere Bedeutung besitzt als für die Produktionsbetriebe. Dienstleister ziehen direkte Verteilsysteme vor und erschliessen Auslandmärkte eher gleichzeitig als Produktionsunternehmen. Die Studie kommt zum Schluss, dass die Exportförderung auf die spezifischen Bedürfnisse der verschiedenen Wirtschaftssegmente zugeschnitten werden sollte

Location Decisions of Inward FDI in Sub-national Regions of a Host Country: Service versus Manufacturing Industries

Built on the differences between services and manufacturing sectors, this study examines the general proposition that service and manufacturing multinational enterprises (MNEs) have different responsiveness to location-specific characteristics when conducting foreign direct investment (FDI), and that these differences influence their final locations in the sub-national regions of a host country. Using a full population of 1,212 and 6,199 inward FDI projects conducted by MNEs in manufacturing and services sectors, respectively, across 234 sub-national regions in Korea between 2000 and 2004, it finds that the location decisions made by service MNEs are more likely to be driven by demand-side considerations, whereas those made by manufacturing MNEs are more likely to be influenced by supply-side characteristics of sub-national regions. In addition, it shows that sub-national location decisions made by both high-tech and low-tech manufacturing MNEs consider the availability of local strategic assets within a focal region more importantly than that from its neighboring regions, suggesting the importance of intra-regional effects. Sub-national location decisions made by location-bound service MNEs exhibit the same intra-regional effects for local market potential; however, those by non-location-bound service MNEs consider the local market potential from neighboring regions more importantly than that within a focal region, suggesting the existence of inter-regional effects

Multinational corporation internationalization in the service sector: a study of Japanese trading companies

This paper extends Chang's (1995) sequential investment theory to include multinational corporations (MNCs) in service industries, given this sector's large and growing impact on the global economy. To facilitate an examination of service MNC internationalization patterns, we develop a new typology of service investment (i.e., core-global, related-local, unrelated-global, and unrelated-local) based on business relatedness and location-specificity. We test this typology on a sample of large Japanese trading companies; our results suggest that the initial investments of service MNCs are closely related to their core businesses and are less location-specific, but that subsequent investments are less related to firms' core services and are more location-specific – a pattern similar to the traditional view on manufacturing MNCs. We extend our analysis to examine several case studies to provide a richer context for these findings. In addition, we examine the performance implications of internationalization. Our findings suggest that firms that internationalize through early investments that are closely related to their core activities outperform those in unrelated businesses over time, but that this performance gap between related and unrelated foreign investments diminishes in more advanced stages of internationalization. Journal of International Business Studies (2007) 38, 1149–1169; doi:10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400310

The Role, Use and Activation of Strong and Weak Network Ties: A Qualitative Analysis

A characteristic of studies seeking to explain the structure and operation of networks is the use of Granovetter's strong and weak tie hypothesis. Whilst this hypothesis has become an established paradigm, questions and disagreements arise over its applicability at demonstrating the real use and value of each tie. This study extends the work of Granovetter. Using a qualitative ethnographic approach to explore in-depth the networking activities of fourteen respondents, it aims to enhance understanding about the role of ties, how they are used and activated for business activity. Findings demonstrate that it is strong ties that are instrumental for business activity and used extensively to provide knowledge and information but also to maintain, extend and enhance business and personal reputations. Unless activities require their reactivation and manifestation, strong ties remain latent and dormant within the network. Strong ties also provide the mechanism to invoke 'weak' ties, represented by nodes operating in a wider social context. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2005.