eThesis - School of Business electronic theses

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Research Objectives: This study is aimed at understanding the influence of national cultures and the global mindset simultaneously on Finnish high-tech startups' entry mode choices in international markets. In order to address this problem, the study identifies the aspects of national cultures and the global mindset that drive the entry mode decisions in Finnish high-tech startups. In addition, the study aims to understand how these two factors influence the entry mode choices by describing in detail the reasoning process behind the decisions and the actual dynamics behind the entry modes chosen in the case companies.

Methodology: This study is a qualitative multiple case study research. The empirical data for this research were mainly collected through five objective semi-structured thematic interviews with CEOs from five Finnish high-tech startups. The selected cases were prototypical ones with minimized exceptional features so that the findings can have the greatest generalizability. The informants were chosen for their thorough understanding of the companies' business decisions. Additional information was also collected through the companies' websites and blogs. The data were interpreted using different analysis techniques.

Findings: The findings of this study show that national cultures and the global mindset simultaneously have impacts on Finnish high-tech startups' entry mode choices, but not in a linear pattern. It is suggested that differences in national cultures drove the case companies to choose contractual agreement as their entry mode even when the managers are internationally experienced in the target markets. The global mindset of the managers resulted in establishing wholly owned subsidiary even in culturally distant countries. Joint venture was not used and export was employed by only two of the case companies. The findings also suggest the important roles of product and industry specifics in Finnish high-tech startups' entry mode decisions. Product specifics that require confidentiality prevent the use of joint venture and partially lead to wholly owned subsidiary or export with the presence of national culture differences and the global mindset. Industry specifics that either facilitate direct meeting with customers or eliminate the need of face-to-face meeting also allow startups to use export as an entry mode.