The course introduces students to the domain of foreign direct investment entry modes. At the end of the course, students will be able to recognize the existing challenges for firms when they have to:
1) choose an appropriate exact foreign location for investment;
2) determine the level of ownership in the foreign operation (how much they would like to own of the foreign operation, i.e. whether to set up a partially (jointly owned) or a wholly owned subsidiary);
3) decide on how to establish the foreign outlet (i.e. whether to opt for an operation from scratch (greenfield), or an acquisition).
Furthermore, students will be able to analyse and evaluate different market entry strategies with respect to two major issues:
1) the specifics of the host country national institutional environments (i.e. whether a market entry strategy is best chosen to fit the specific institutional context of the host country);
2) the characteristics of the home institutional environment for the strategy formulation of MNEs.
In the course, students will analyse and discuss barriers to the internationalization process which institutional differences create and suggest ways to overcome them. In the end, participants in the course will understand the complex nature of foreign market entry mode decisions and the implications for performance.