The Market Entry Decision and Success: UK Companies in the Republic of Korea and East Asia

The Market Entry Decision and Success Although the market entry decision has received attention, literature dealing with it suffers from unstated assumptions that colour the understanding of what firms are trying to achieve; the effects of time are rarely included, as too are the full impact of country-specific factors. Further, many studies are based on a partial sample of firms from a small or at least limited number of industries which tends to reduce the rich complexity of the overall decision process. This thesis tries to help remedy some of these shortcomings by providing an empirical study of UK firms entering three economies in East Asia: the Republic of Korea, Japan and Taiwan and their definitions of success. Success is a multi- dimensional construct which has definite associations with some entry decisions and that it is country-specific conditions which are most influential in determining which entry modes will be adopted and whether operational modes will have subsequently changed or be likely to change in the future. The thesis also deals with the appropriate matching of market entry modes with the particular economies studied.