AIB 2012 Conference Proceedings - Academy of International ...

TUESDAY
Do You Imitate Immediately An Examination of the Location Choices for Foreign Direct Investment
HsienJui Chung, National Chung Cheng University
Wei Wan Liao, National Chi Nan University
This study applies recency effects on interfirm imitation studies. It investigates whether peer firms' recent
location choices of foreign direct investment (FDI) yield imitation pressure on a firm's FDI location choices. This
study examines FDI data of Taiwan listed companies. Results confirm the existence of recency effects. This
study further indicates that peer firms' remote experience and a firm's own experience have negative
moderating effects on recency effects. These results illustrate why the Matthew effects would not occur nor
firms' behavior would converge to highly homogeneous state even the imitation mechanism functions. The
contribution of this study is to introduce time dimension in imitation studies and to propose new interpretation
about the occurrence of imitation behavior from time aspect (For more information, please contact: HsienJui
Chung, National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan: hjchung@ccu.edu.tw)
MNE Bargaining Power Under Constrained Location Choices: Evidence from the Tourism Industry
Nicholas James Bailey, University of South Carolina
This paper discusses the bargaining power of multinational enterprises (MNEs) when making investment
decisions under constrained location choices. Building on the resource-based view, I argue that countries have
competitive advantages in attracting industry-specific foreign direct investment (FDI) when they have
heterogeneous and immobile resources desired by MNEs from certain industries. Under these conditions, the
more powerful player in the firm-country relationship is the country because the MNE must invest where the
limited resources they need are located. Therefore, investment will take place regardless of the level of
incentives used by the country to attract FDI. I test this argument by studying hospitality firms in 158 countries.
Results indicate that countries with high levels of unique tourist resources attract hospitality FDI regardless of
the tax rate in those countries. (For more information, please contact: Nicholas James Bailey, University of
South Carolina, USA: nicholas.bailey@grad.moore.sc.edu)
Does Knowledge Distance Matter : The Impact of Distance on the Formation of International R&D Alliances in
a Knowledge Intensive Industry
Jeongho Choi, Rutgers University
This study explores the impact of knowledge distance on the formation of international R&D alliances in a
knowledge intensive industry. With a sample of 162 alliance deals from the year of 2000 to 2010, I found that
distance in industrial knowledge intensity, industrial knowledge specialization and knowledge network
connectedness increase the likelihood of international R&D alliance formation. In addition, the results support
the view that firms in a competitive knowledge intensive industry and with knowledge-seeking motive are more
likely to engage in regionalized international R&D alliances with foreign partner firms although there exists
certain levels of institutional distance as well as knowledge distance between two nations of each partner firm.
(For more information, please contact: Jeongho Choi, Rutgers University, USA: jhochoi@pegasus.rutgers.edu)
Institutional Distance, Firm Capabilities, and Foreign Market Entry
Nan Zhou, Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO
Mauro Guillen, University of Pennsylvania
This paper offers the first systematic study of the impact of the various dimensions of institutional distance on
the location choice of three different types of foreign direct investment (FDI): market-seeking, efficiencyseeking,
and strategic asset-seeking. Building on the literature on location advantages, we propose that
AIB 2012 Conference Proceedings
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