Social ties and foreign market entry: An empirical inquiry

Abstract and Key ResultsThis study attempts to document the influence of social ties on two critical components of foreign market entry (FME) decisions by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): timing of entry and resource commitment. An ethnic Chinese group serves as the best candidate to underlie this research because ethnic Chinese networks often build on personal connections that are based on regional collegiality and kinship.From a sample of 173 Taiwanese SMEs, hierarchical regression results indicate that social ties are significantly related to FME decisions by Taiwanese SMEs in terms of both the timing of entry and resource commitments.