No.263 : Service Company Strategies in East Asia

要旨

This report investigates the linkages between the home country business models of European and North American companies and their strategies in Asian markets. Our initial hypothesis, that international service industry business models and strategies have not yet converged as much as in the manufacturing industries, could not be confirmed. In contrast, our results show that the service companies basically follow similar patterns during their internationalization and expansion in Asia. After initially following their customers, their overseas success seems to depend much less on their sectoral strategies or international business models, than on their ability to adapt a strong home country business model to varying conditions abroad. Japanese service companies, on the other hand, which are still underrepresented in Asia, seem to remain too close to their original Japanese manufacturing customers.