Do we need to distance ourselves from the distance concept? Why home and host country context might matter more than (cultural) distance

Article


Harzing, A. and Pudelko, M. 2016. Do we need to distance ourselves from the distance concept? Why home and host country context might matter more than (cultural) distance. Management International Review. 56 (1), pp. 1-34. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11575-015-0265-4
TypeArticle
TitleDo we need to distance ourselves from the distance concept? Why home and host country context might matter more than (cultural) distance
AuthorsHarzing, A. and Pudelko, M.
Abstract

We scrutinize the explanatory power of one of the key concepts in International Business: the concept of (cultural) distance. Here we focus on its effect on entry mode choice, one of the most researched fields in international business strategy. Our findings might, however, be equally be relevant for the field of International Business as a whole. Our analysis is based on a review of 92 prior studies on entry mode choice, as well as an empirical investigation in over 800 subsidiaries of MNCs, covering nine host and fifteen home countries across the world.
We conclude that the explanatory power of distance is highly limited once home and host country context are accounted for, and that any significant effects of cultural distance on entry mode choice might simply be caused by inadequate sampling. Entry mode studies in particular, and International Business research in general, would do well to reconsider its fascination with distance measures, and instead, focus first and foremost on differences in home and host country context. We argue that serious engagement with deep contextualization is necessary in International Business research to pose new and relevant questions and develop new and innovative theories that explain empirical phenomena.

KeywordsCultural distance; Entry mode choice; International business; Home country; Host country
Research GroupInternational and Cross-cultural Management group
PublisherSpringer
JournalManagement International Review
ISSN0938-8249
Electronic1861-8901
Publication dates
Online28 Oct 2015
Print01 Feb 2016
Publication process dates
Deposited19 Apr 2016
Accepted15 Sep 2015
Submitted10 Mar 2015
Output statusPublished
Publisher's version
Copyright Statement

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11575-015-0265-4
Open Access: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made.
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To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1007/s11575-015-0265-4
Scopus EID2-s2.0-84945575068
LanguageEnglish
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