Ethnicity and decision making for internationalisation

Purpose – This paper seeks to review the internationalisation strategies of Japanese and Singaporean firms within the context of Dunning, Hymer and Rugman. Design/methodology/approach – The literature pertaining to culture, environment and Asian management is reviewed and the question is posed whether the management style is changing in response to global market convergence. The study used a mail questionnaire to explore the FDI factors deemed motivational for Japanese and Singapore managers. Findings – The paper finds that managers need to consider the impact that environment and culture exerts on the decision-making process as corporations expand their international reach. Practical implications – One approach to explaining the theory as to why firms expand and perform at different speeds could be to suggest that the cognitive rationale that drives management thinking is environmentally dependent. This would appear plausible given that when the way in which managers make decisions across countries of the same region are compared, differences in thinking do occur. This then exerts an effect on the internationalisation paths pursued by firms. Originality/value – This research questions the suitability of a “one size fits all” approach to internationalisation given the cultural variables that exist between markets. This builds on the literature that examines the suitability of market convergence but at the same time enables the evaluation of the extent to which Asian managers are driven by market capitalism theory at the organisational level