Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-1-2023

Comments

This article is the author's final published version in Transnational Corporations Review, Volume 15, Issue 1, March 2023, Pages 27 - 42.

The published version is available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tncr.2023.100003.

Copyright © 2023 The Author(s)

Abstract

Multinational firms that enter regional country blocks, such as Latin America, often choose a beachhead country, i.e. an entry point, as a launchpad into other countries in the region. While some recent scholarship examines beachhead decisions, research that explicitly examines beach- head choice in a regional context and the subsequent speed of expansion and firm performance in the region is surprisingly absent in international business literature. To address this gap, we examine whether the beachhead choice affects the speed and performance of regional expan- sion of multinational firms. We also analyse whether a firm’s regional speed and performance are dependent on the country’s sequence of expansion. Using a uniquely compiled dataset of firms that entered Latin America during 1990–2005, we find that a firm’s regional speed and performance are sensitive to both the beachhead choice and the specific path the firm takes. Specifically, firms that choose regionally representative beachheads fare better.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Language

English

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