An Integrative Approach to the Internationalisation of Knowledge-Intensive Services: A Case of Higher Education

Abstract

Despite a wide range of industries expanding internationally, understanding of the foreign market entry strategies in knowledge-intensive services remains underdeveloped. Existing research demonstrates considerable inconsistencies and overlooks the differences between manufacturing and service organizations. This study aims to fill this gap through a conceptual lens that integrates insights from transaction cost economics, the resource-based view and the institution-based view, based on qualitative interview data from ten UK universities operating in China. The findings reveal that modes of foreign market entry are contingent upon an array of resource, transactional and institutional rationales; the choice of a specific mode results from the dominance of one of these rationales. Additionally, refined asset specificity (e.g. reputation), people-centered enduring relationships, and simultaneous production and consumption emerge as significant factors determining the entry mode choice of knowledge-intensive organizations.