Does entry mode matter? Reviewing current themes and perspectives

The mode of doing business across national borders was considered a pioneering topic in the late 1970s when concern was with the mode as a means of foreign market entry. Today, barriers to international trade and investment are signifi cantly eroded and internationalization eased by improvements in technology, infrastructure and deregulation, and it is pertinent to ask: ‘Does entry mode matter?’ The question is addressed through a discussion of literature explicitly focused on entry modes, and that examining internationalization and international entrepreneurship more widely. Concluding that insuffi cient attention is paid to mode variety and motivations in both bodies of research, a series of models positioning modes within the internationalization process are advanced. The models demonstrate the confl uence of infl uences from dynamic processes, and decision criteria on entry mode selection, motivations and internationalization path. While the role of the entry mode in current internationalization processes has evolved with changes in the world economy, it remains an important topic for research. Specifi cally, the authors call for research on the infl uence of technological change on entry modes; and deeper investigation of specifi c modes such as exporting, and of the role of social capital in the formation of formal modes of international business activity