Essays on International Market Entry Strategy

Abstract

Two important issues regarding international market entry strategy remain largely unexplored: international launch time window (the elapsed time between product launch in the home country and launch in the focal country) and country sequence. First, I investigate the factors that drive international launch time window and its impact on the performance of new products in foreign markets. The results show that launch time window is positively associated with word of mouth, but negatively related to prelaunch advertising efforts and foreign demand potential. Second, I examine the determinants of the sequence of countries in which firms introduce new products and its impact on performance in foreign countries. The findings include that a country‘s order in the international launch sequence of a new product affects the product‘s performance in that country. Country order is negatively related to country revenues. A country‘s cultural distance (economic openness) is positively (negatively) associated with its order in the sequence. I also find that there is cross-country spillover effect - lagged revenues from other countries and lagged marketing efforts in the home country are positively related to a new product‘s revenues in the focal foreign country. The more culturally sensitive a product, the earlier culturally closer countries are in the launch sequence for that product. Based on the cross-country performance spillover effects, I recommend a launch sequence that can maximize overall performance in foreign markets.