Technology multinational enterprises from emerging markets: Competitive interplay of international entry timing decisions

Abstract

Given the context that technology is becoming ever more important, research about technology multinational enterprises (MNEs) is also increasing, but from technology in the international business context, especially concerning entry timing, there is scant literature. Therefore, from the perspective of game theory this research examines how different aspects of host countries and players’ resources affect the decision on entry timing into foreign countries. The data comprise 979 technology-based Taiwanese firms operating in service and manufacturing industries, mainly collected from the Taiwan Economic Journal and World Bank databases. The empirical findings show that firm resources and experiences, host country uncertainties, and investment payoff all influence the entry timing into foreign countries. This research contributes to the current knowledge about technology-based service and manufacturing firms on what factors they consider when choosing the time to invest into foreign countries, especially for technology MNEs from emerging markets.