How firms grow: clustering as a dynamic model of internationalisation

Title: How firms grow: clustering as a dynamic model of internationalisation
Creator: Maitland, Elizabeth; Rose, Elizabeth L.; Nicholas, Stephen
Relation: Journal of International Business Studies Vol. 36, Issue 4, p. 435-451
Publisher Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400140
Publisher: Georgia State University
Resource Type: journal article
Date: 2005
Description: This paper provides a methodology for identifying the dynamics of international firm expansion, demonstrating systematic evidence of both |[lsquo]|toe in the water|[rsquo]| and concentrated bursts of internationalization by US multinational enterprises. We use the methodology of statistical process control to analyze initial investments in host countries and develop a numerical measure of temporal clustering or bunching. Using this measure, we identify two distinct patterns of growth; whereas some firms cluster their investments over time, others do not cluster their investments. For firms that cluster, three types of clustering strategy are identified: concentrating, hibernating, and hybrid. Arguments based on internal firm architecture, experience, and learning are advanced to explain these findings.
Subject: multinational enterprises; international firm expansion; statistical process control; growth
Identifier: uon:6458
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/803632
Identifier: ISSN:0047-2506
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