Internationalisation by Business Services: A Methodological Critique of Foreign-Market Entry-Mode Choice

In this paper the work of geographers, economists, and management scientists in studying interregional and international expansion by service companies is reviewed. A critique is presented of some of the fundamental methodological problems inherent in analysing foreign-market entry-mode choice. These are particularly apparent when studying the process of business service-sector internationalisation. Issues discussed include inconsistencies in the definition of which entry decision to analyse; the level of aggregation to adopt when modelling mode choice; mode choice and cooperative organisational networks; different approaches to measuring cultural distance and country risk; and the methodologies used to develop scales to represent the constructs relevant to internationalisation.