Title: The application of project advancement to developing the deployment procedure for transnational investment: the example of fast food industry entry into mainland China

Authors: Cheng-Chang Chang, Yan-Kwang Chen

Addresses: Business Administration, Chihlee Institute of Technology, No. 313, Sec. 1, Wunhua Rd., Banciao City, Taipei County 220, Taiwan, Republic of China. ' Department of Logistics Engineering & Management, National Taichung Institute of Technology, No. 129, Sec. 3, Sanmin Rd., Taichung, Taiwan, Republic of China

Abstract: Whenever an enterprise (especially, in the service industry) decides to invest in a specific host country for global market expansion, it has been a common to set up an effective deployment procedure for this host country. Project Advancement (PA) is a method which provides a systematic thinking rule to aid decision-makers. This study applies PA to a fast food industry company|s entry into the Mainland China market. The idea of a |primary business network (PBN)| that consists of three elements: locations for investment, business goals and value-based time limits for these locations, affords a novel view on the fundamental investment objective of multinational enterprises (MNE) to ensure sustainable competitive advantages. Methodologies to find the three elements of PBN are proposed. According to a matrix of |capital competence| and |country risk|, a proper resource allocation and/or transfer strategy can be recommended to the possibility of creating a PBN.

Keywords: transnational investment; project advancement; primary business networks; focused markets; management concepts; fast food industry; China; deployment procedures; systematic thinking; decision making; market entry; multinational enterprises; MNEs; capital competence; country risk; resource allocation; resource transfer.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMCP.2009.023340

International Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy, 2009 Vol.3 No.3, pp.290 - 311

Published online: 19 Feb 2009 *

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