Resource exploitation under resource dependence constraints: The international expansion strategy of smaller United States-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers (1996--2000).

摘要

This study looks at the international expansion of smaller U.S. suppliers of semiconductor manufacturing equipment. It explores how smaller sized companies in the high technology sector exploit their resources on a global scale under conditions of dependence on their key customers and how the interaction between resource exploitation and resource dependence determines the patterns of international expansion over time.;The theoretical framework is based on the resource-based view of the firm and the resource-dependence theory of interorganizational relationships and is empirically grounded in seven case studies of smaller suppliers in the high technology sector. Fourteen research hypotheses are developed and two models are empirically tested: one at the company level, and one at the company-market level.;The study panel consists of 66 US-based publicly traded smaller suppliers of semiconductor equipment (with initial employment of less than 2000 employees) over a five-year period (1996--2000), and thirty-nine markets, rendering a sample size of n = 286 company-year observations and n = 11154 company-market-year observations. I test for the main and interaction effects of the two explanatory variables (technological intensity and sales dependence) on four patterns of internationalization (number of markets, number of entries, commitment of the market entry mode, and export intensity). At the company-market level I also test for three-way interactions between technological intensity, sales dependence, and key customer's home/level of investment in the market.;Tests reveal complex quadratic relationships between technological intensity and international expansion. In addition, sales dependence on a key customer constrains the scope of international operations but may facilitate market entry within the limited scope of markets served. Further, small suppliers tend to be present in their key customer's home market and the markets the key customer invests in. At the same time, as technological intensity and sales dependence increase, smaller suppliers are more likely to make additional entries in the markets the key customer invests in and less likely to make additional entries in the key customer's home market. Therefore smaller suppliers' patterns of internationalization can be understood better by accounting for their key customer's moves.;Implications for theory and practice are discussed.