Strategic variables that influence entry mode choice in service firms

This work investigates how a firm's international strategy affects choice of entry mode in the service sector. The inherent complexity associated with studying a heterogeneous sector such as services requires researchers to investigate variables that go beyond those drawn from traditional empirical work on the manufacturing sector. The adoption of a broader theoretical perspective and the introduction of these new variables may well provide further evidence of the determinants of service firms' entry mode choices. On the basis of 174 entry decisions of service firms, this study's results support the necessity of including additional strategic variables that specifically address this complex phenomenon, a decision that is not always associated just with efficiency and value-based considerations but with strategic issues as well. In addition, some variables that are routinely used in studies of the manufacturing sector were not significant or exhibited different results in different groups of service activities.