Experience, imitation, and the sequence of foreign entry:: wholly owned and joint-venture manufacturing by South Korean firms and business groups in China, 1987-1995

The evolution of foreign entry in the form of joint ventures and wholly owned manufacturing operations is examined as a staged process shaped by experience and imitation dynamics at the firm, group, and industry levels of analysis. The expansion of South Korean firms into China between 1987 and 1995 lends support to the staged view of foreign entry. Over time, technology-intensive firms are more likely to abandon joint-venture entry modes, owing to contractual hazards. Firms in the same business group are found to imitate each other's choice of joint ventures and wholly owned plants. Firms in the same industry mimic each other's choice of wholly owned plants, though not of joint ventures.