IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envira/v30y1998i1p109-128.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Internationalisation by Business Service Firms: Towards a New Regionally Based Conceptual Framework

Author

Listed:
  • P N O'Farrell

    (Department of Economics, Heriot-Watt University, Riccarton, Edinburgh EH 14 4AS, England)

  • P A Wood

    (Department of Geography, University College London, 26 Bedford Way, London WC1H OAP, England)

Abstract

In this paper we critically review the applicability of the dominant paradigm of international production theory, internalisation theory, and the eclectic paradigm, concluding that they are of very limited utility in analysing the process of internationalisation by business service firms. The principal aim is to conceptualise the influence of three key dimensions of business service activity on internationalisation: the external relations and patterns of interfirm networking adopted by business service firms; their close relationships with clients; and the significance of these relationships in home-region markets, affording regional externalities which also strongly influence their propensity to export. Evidence from Scotland and the South East of England shows a regional influence on the mode of foreign-market entry, although few firms explicitly choose particular foreign markets to enter. The most common entry mechanism involves responding to particular orders. Similarly, the entry-mode decisions of 70% of the firms were made without consideration of any alternative modes. The evident importance of interfirm, including client corporate networks, and the influence of regional conditions upon internationalisation, leads to a conclusion in which we draw on a recent socially based interpretation of business behaviour.

Suggested Citation

  • P N O'Farrell & P A Wood, 1998. "Internationalisation by Business Service Firms: Towards a New Regionally Based Conceptual Framework," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 30(1), pages 109-128, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:30:y:1998:i:1:p:109-128
    DOI: 10.1068/a300109
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/a300109
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/a300109?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peter J. Buckley, 1985. "A Critical View of Theories of the Multinational Enterprise," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: The Economic Theory of the Multinational Enterprise, chapter 1, pages 1-19, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. O'Farrell, Patrick N. & Wood, Peter A., 1994. "International market selection by business service firms: Key conceptual and methodological issues," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 243-261, September.
    3. Jean-François Hennart, 1991. "The Transaction Costs Theory of Joint Ventures: An Empirical Study of Japanese Subsidiaries in the United States," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 37(4), pages 483-497, April.
    4. Edward J. Zajac & Cyrus P. Olsen, 1993. "From Transaction Cost To Transactional Value Analysis: Implications For The Study Of Interorganizational Strategies," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 131-145, January.
    5. E Vatne, 1995. "Local Resource Mobilisation and Internationalisation Strategies in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 27(1), pages 63-80, January.
    6. Peter J. Buckley & Mark Casson, 1991. "The Future of the Multinational Enterprise," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, edition 0, number 978-1-349-21204-0, March.
    7. Fischer, Stanley, 1977. "`Long-term contracting, sticky prices, and monetary policy' : A comment," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 317-323, July.
    8. Peter J. Buckley & Mark Casson, 1985. "The Economic Theory of the Multinational Enterprise," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-349-05242-4, March.
    9. John H Dunning, 1988. "The Eclectic Paradigm of International Production: A Restatement and Some Possible Extensions," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 19(1), pages 1-31, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. P. N. O'Farrell & P. A. Wood & J. Zheng, 1998. "Regional Influences on Foreign Market Development by Business Service Companies: Elements of a Strategic Context Explanation," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 31-48.
    2. William B. Beyers & David P. Lindahl, 1998. "Services and the new economic landscape," ERSA conference papers ersa98p391, European Regional Science Association.
    3. Nachum, L. & Rolle, J. D., 1999. "Home country and firm-specific ownership advantages: A study of US, UK and French advertising agencies," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 8(5-6), pages 633-660, October.
    4. José A. Camacho & Mercedes Rodriguez, 2010. "How Important are Knowledge-Intensive Services for their Client Industries? An Assessment of their Impact on Productivity and Innovation," Chapters, in: Faïz Gallouj & Faridah Djellal (ed.), The Handbook of Innovation and Services, chapter 18, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Jardon Carlos & Molodchik A. Mariya, 2015. "Endowment of Intangible Resources and Phases of Internationalization in Emerging Economies. The Case of Russia," HSE Working papers WP BRP 22/IR/2015, National Research University Higher School of Economics.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. P. N. O'Farrell & P. A. Wood & J. Zheng, 1998. "Regional Influences on Foreign Market Development by Business Service Companies: Elements of a Strategic Context Explanation," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 31-48.
    2. Chris Wagner, 2020. "Deducing a state-of-the-art presentation of the Eclectic Paradigm from four decades of development: a systematic literature review," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 70(1), pages 51-96, February.
    3. Bonache Perez, Jaime & Pla-Barber, Jose, 2005. "When are international managers a cost effective solution? The rationale of transaction cost economics applied to staffing decisions in MNCs," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(10), pages 1320-1329, October.
    4. Bell, J.H.J., 1996. "Joint or Single Venturing? : An Electric Approach to Foreign Entry Mode Choice," Other publications TiSEM 06f84735-3cf5-432f-8bc8-c, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    5. Iavor Marangozov, 2005. "From Practice to Theory of the International Joint Ventures," Economic Studies journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 2, pages 44-77.
    6. Michael Nippa & Jeffrey J Reuer, 2019. "On the future of international joint venture research," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 50(4), pages 555-597, June.
    7. Cleeve, Emmanuel A. & Debrah, Yaw & Yiheyis, Zelealem, 2015. "Human Capital and FDI Inflow: An Assessment of the African Case," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 1-14.
    8. Tatoglu, Ekrem & W. Glaister, Keith, 1998. "An analysis of motives for western FDI in Turkey," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 203-230, April.
    9. Reuer, Jeffrey J. & Ariño, Africa, 2000. "Governance changes in strategic alliances: Antecedents of contractual renegotiations," IESE Research Papers D/415, IESE Business School.
    10. Bartels, Frank L. & Napolitano, Francesco & Tissi, Nicola E., 2014. "FDI in Sub-Saharan Africa: A longitudinal perspective on location-specific factors (2003–2010)," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 516-529.
    11. Anoop Madhok & Anupama Phene, 2001. "The Co-evolutional Advantage: Strategic Management Theory and the Eclectic Paradigm," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(2), pages 243-256.
    12. Robert-Nicoud, Frédéric & Olarreaga, Marcelo & Carrère, Céline & Fugazza, Marco, 2016. "On the heterogeneous effect of trade on unemployment," CEPR Discussion Papers 11540, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Jan Hendrik Fisch & Bjoern Schmeisser, 0. "Phasing the operation mode of foreign subsidiaries: Reaping the benefits of multinationality through internal capital markets," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 0, pages 1-33.
    14. Jisun Yu & Sung Kim, 2013. "Understanding liability of foreignness in an Asian business context: A study of the Korean asset management industry," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 30(4), pages 1191-1217, December.
    15. George Peng & Paul Beamish, 2008. "The Effect of National Corporate Responsibility Environment on Japanese Foreign Direct Investment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 80(4), pages 677-695, July.
    16. Arte, Pratik & Larimo, Jorma, 2019. "Taking stock of foreign divestment: Insights and recommendations from three decades of contemporary literature," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 1-1.
    17. Hitt, Michael A. & Li, Dan & Xu, Kai, 2016. "International strategy: From local to global and beyond," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 58-73.
    18. Hui-mei Wang & Hengchiang Huang & Pratima Bansal, 2005. "What Determined Success During the Asian Economic Crisis?—The Importance of Experiential Knowledge and Group Affiliation," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 89-106, January.
    19. Reddy, Kotapati Srinivasa, 2016. "Institutional Voids and Tax litigation in Emerging Economies: The verdict of Vodafone cross-border acquisition of Hutchison," MPRA Paper 74264, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2016.
    20. Mehmet Demirbag & Ekrem Tatoglu & Keith W. Glaister, 2008. "Factors affecting perceptions of the choice between acquisition and greenfield entry: The case of Western FDI in an emerging market," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 5-38, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:30:y:1998:i:1:p:109-128. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.