The Relationship Between Home Market Performance and Internationalization Decisions: Evidence From German Insurance Groups

摘要

This study investigates the relationship between home market performance and the choice of foreign market entry mode using survey data and financial statement data for German insurance groups with property-liability business from 1999 to 2011. We develop a dynamic resource-based perspective and argue that strategic transformation is a major motive driving the decisions of insurance groups to internationalize their businesses. Additionally, the more rapid the strategic transformation, the more intense is the choice of market entry mode. Furthermore, our findings corroborate the notion that internationalization has a positive effect on home market performance when insurance groups are able to decrease home market dependence by extending the degree of internationalization.