Failing to prepare, preparing to fail? Home country alliance experience as an antecedent to international expansion

This thesis consists of three empirical chapters on the effect of domestic collaborations with foreign multinational enterprises (MNEs) on the internationalization of emerging market firms.
The first chapter studies the effect of domestic joint venture experience with foreign MNEs on the international expansion of Chinese firms. Using behavioral arguments, this study demonstrates that domestic experience can influence international expansion decisions but that this relationship is contingent on the recency of the experience.
The second chapter explores the role of domestic joint venture experience and firms’ technological capabilities on the location choices in foreign direct investment. The study shows that the effect of domestic joint venture experience on the preference for more technologically advanced host countries is contingent on the firm’s technological capabilities, alluding to the presence of substitution effects.
The third chapter investigates the role of domestic joint venture experience with foreign MNEs on the survival of foreign subsidiaries. The analyses demonstrate that domestic joint venture experience can positively influence foreign subsidiary survival, and as such help firms prepare for international expansion, but that this relationship is highly contingent on entry characteristics.