Title: An empirical study of foreign direct investments of Malaysian multinationals: wholly-owned subsidiaries and international joint ventures

Authors: Ahmad Bashawir A. Ghani; Muhammad Subhan; Malcolm Tull

Addresses: Ghazali Shafie Graduate School of Government, College of Law, Government, and International Studies, University of Utara Malaysia, 06010 Kedah, Malaysia. ' Department of International Business, UUM-COLGIS, University of Utara Malaysia, 06010 Kedah, Malaysia. ' Murdoch Business School, Murdoch University, Western Australia 6150, Australia

Abstract: This article aims to provide an insight into the use of foreign direct investments of Malaysian multinationals as market entry modes. We developed a conceptual framework incorporating levels of control, competencies, and costs of foreign investments for market entry modes as wholly-owned subsidiaries and international joint ventures and tested our model with a survey of CEOs and managing directors at Malaysian multinational companies. Our findings suggest Malaysian multinationals are strongly influenced by their strategic motivations and their desire to exploit synergies in their choice of entry mode between wholly-owned subsidiaries and international joint ventures.

Keywords: foreign direct investment; FDI; wholly-owned subsidiaries; international joint ventures; IJVs; Malaysia; multinational companies; MNCs; market entry modes.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSBA.2011.044857

International Journal of Strategic Business Alliances, 2011 Vol.2 No.4, pp.287 - 306

Published online: 31 Mar 2015 *

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