Evaluation and Analysis of the Strategies of Food Products Entry to Foreign Markets

Over the last decade, foreign market entry has continued to play a critical role in global economic development. Because of dynamics and complexity of entry modes and the influences of many variables, decision making on selection of international market entry strategies is a difficult task. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the strategic variables determining foreign market entry strategies. In every study, a different set of variables and findings has entered, which are often inconsistent. Hence, this study intends to identify the factors affecting selection of foreign market entry strategies and their influences on the selection. For this purpose, the content and types of foreign market entry strategies have been introduced by studying relevant literature. These strategies have been then divided into three main categories of export strategies, non-export strategies, and intermediate strategies. Then, the factors that make effect on selection of these strategies have been identified and classified. Finally, all factors are used to form two separate structural equation models (SEMs) based on the theory of Strategic Reference Points and respectively it has been explained that how foreign entry strategies are chosen according to these reference points. To support this explanation empirically, 42 export companies of food industry have been studied in Mazandaran. SPSS18, MINITAB15, and AMOS18 have been used for analyzing and testing the research hypotheses. Findings imply that uncertainty of host country, uncertainty of product market, competitive uncertainty, uncertainty of partner behavior, international experience, technical knowledge, marketing skills, total investment, competitive intensity, nature of foreign activity, attractiveness of location and business relatedness affect selecting foreign market entry strategies. Moreover, with our SEMs, Attractiveness of location, language diversity and uncertainty of the host country are proved to be good manifests of the companies' strategic focus. Uncertainty of host country, uncertainty of product market, competitive uncertainty, international experience, firm size, technical knowledge, marketing skill, total investment, business relatedness and the nature of foreign activity are good manifests for the companies’ desired degree of control over their foreign activities.