SOAS Research Online

Abstract

Research on the internationalization of multinational corporations (MNCs) is mostly built on studies of North American and European firms. East Asian MNCs have been studied less, and commonly with reference to theories developed in Western countries. In this paper, we query the validity of these ‘Western’ internationalization models for East Asian firms through comparative case studies of representative Japanese and South Korean MNCs’ expansion into China. We find that the internationalization processes of leading East Asian MNCs match the predictions made by Western theories only partially. Furthermore, we find considerable differences between the internationalization of Japanese and South Korean firms, indicating both that East Asian MNCs follow diverse patterns of internationalization and that established Western models of internationalization evince limitations or weaknesses when applied to East Asian firms. Overall, the findings of this exploratory study illustrate the need for further, in-depth studies on the internationalization of East Asian MNCs which may result in the extensions of existing theories or even new theoretical frameworks.