| This dissertation discusses the development and the empirical test results of a research study which examines the direct investment entry-mode choices of Japanese-affiliated manufacturing entries in automotive, electronics and machinery industries in North America (i.e., in the U.S. and Canada). Direct investment entry-modes refer to equity joint ventures (JVs) and wholly-owned subsidiaries (WOSs).;This research examines the impact of certain contextual factors on Japanese manufacturing entrants in the above three industries in choosing between a WOS and a JV. These contextual factors fall into the following categories: (1) the proprietary nature of an entry's key product and of its process technology to its Japanese entrant (also referred to as its Japanese parent firm); (2) a Japanese entrant's relative research and development (R&D) intensity; (3) a Japanese entrant's prior experience with its host country, and with the neighbour country included in this study (either being USA or Canada, depending on the case); (4) a Japanese entrant's investment ability relative to the capital investment required for its North American entry; (5) a Japanese entrant's need to obtain key resources (i.e., capital investment, technology, distribution channel and marketing expertise) for its North American entry from a local firm, or to generate such resources from its own capacity; (6) a Japanese entrant's keiretsu (business group, pronounced "kay-rhet-sue") membership status; (7) the degree to which an entry's key product overlaps with that of its Japanese parent firm's key product in Japan; and (8) the level of sharing between an entry and its Japanese parent firm in terms of manufacturing knowledge, management expertise, marketing knowledge, and research and development (R&D) resources.;Results of this study are contrary to previous research findings on entry-mode choices by U.S. and European multinational corporations (MNCs). The proprietary nature of Japanese entries' key product and/or process tecnology and key product diversification, are not accepted as the reasons for Japanese manufacturing entrants in this study to discriminate in their entry-mode choice between a WOS and a JV. Nor did the level of prior host country experience, the level of sharing in key knowledge and expertise, and the relative investment ability, appear to have major effect on this decision. Instead, it is the keiretsu membership status, the relative R&D intensity, and the availability of key resources (i.e., capital investment and distribution channel of network) needed for their North American entries, that are the key reasons for these Japanese entrants to choose between the WOS mode and the JV mode.;Systematic effort was also carried out in this study to examine, within a JV mode, the association between the Japanese partner firm's level of resources contribution and its control of organizational mechanism, and in turn, the association between its mechanism control and its control over the JV's business decisions. (Abstract shortened by UMI.). |
