The Modes of Entry Preferred By Indian IT (Software) Companies to Enter South Africa
Date
2011-11-14
Authors
Rajan, Saravanan
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Context and Problem Statement:
Since globalization has influenced many firms to look for potential markets away from their
home country, the modes of entry decision has gained importance. The choice of entry
mode has a significant influence on the success of the firm’s operations thus it is a critical
decision to make. However, existing literature on service firm’s entry mode decision and its
influencing factors are limited, especially those from emerging economies. This study was
thus aimed at investigating the modes of entry that were preferred by Indian IT firms
entering South Africa.
Method:
Three firms were included in the study. Qualitative methodology was used to collect (openend
interview) and analyze (content analysis) the data.
Four top management people were interviewed from three participant firms. The recorded
interviews were then transcribed into text data which was then analyzed using constant
comparison method. The empirical indicators from data were compared with each other
during analysis.
Results:
The results suggest that the choice of entry mode is influenced by the interplay of various
factors.
This study shows that the factors that influenced the Indian IT service firms are similar to
those of manufacturing firms, but may differ in their degree of influence. The study also
finds “time of entry” to be a major category/factor that may play a vital role in influencing
the entry mode decision.
Description
MBA thesis - WBS
Keywords
Computer software companies