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

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.