Foreign Retail Entry Strategy: Empirical support for the use of the independent entry strategy in an uncertain developing market environment

Developing markets have been shown to have institutional frameworks that differ from that in developed economies and greatly affects the transaction costs in the market which favours the use of the collaborative mode of entry. This study argues conditions exist in unstable developing markets that support the use of the wholly owned subsidiary. It discusses these conditions from empirical analysis of the conditions in the Nigerian market and introduces the need for research to focus on a wider perspective on entry mode research suggesting a look at not just cost minimization measures, but also value creation and the notion of strategic flexibility under uncertainty as advocated by the real options theory