Firm age, marketization, and entry mode choices of emerging economy firms: Evidence from listed firms in China

Prior entry mode studies have not paid close attention to the impact of firm age. This study applies an organizational ecological perspective to address the impact of firm age on international entry mode choices. This study also utilizes the institution-based view to theorize on the interaction effect of firm age and the degree of marketization in a firm's local economy. Using listed firms from China as the study sample, an inverted U-shaped relationship between firm age and the choice of high-equity modes was found, and a higher degree of marketization further reinforced this relationship. Hence, this study contributes to entry mode research by building new theoretical mechanisms and by providing new empirical results, while incorporating marketization.