Abstract. In spite of both positivistic and instrumentalresearch, the reliability of measuring the degree of internationalizationof a firm remains speculative. We collected data on nine attributes of seventy-four American manufacturing MNCs. Alpha, factor, and frequency analyses revealed a linear combination of five variables with a reliability coefficient of .79 as a measure of the degree of internationalizationof a firm. We discuss the statistical and conceptual properties of the scale and their implicationsfor content and construct validity.The validation of theories of international business has not matched the robustness of their development. Confirmation has been hindered by the lack of reliable measures, the ensuing inability to disentangle the distorting influencesof measurementerror,andultimately,the impossibilityof establishing content and constructvalidity. The absence of a coherentapproachto establish the validity of measurements results in empirical investigations that are disjointed and inconclusive, a proliferation of partially tested or untested propositions, and a segregation of the theory-building process from the hypothesis-testing phase of research. Consequently, we are unable to create a cumulative structure of theoretical, derived and empirical concepts that provide purpose to subsequent studies.

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This article identifies a comprehensive set of factors that cluster the beliefs of European forest products managers about the importance of incentives to export. Each of the identified factors has received some attention in the theoretical literature concerning international business activity. The ten factors of belief that were identified, however, are not equally salient in those discussions. The revealed incentive factors underscore the importance of the life‐cycle concept, with respect to the product, firm, and industry, to assessing the issue of export initiation. In addition, the results caution for more sharply delineating between strategic versus tactical motivations for understanding the involvement of a firm in export.

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A brief psychoeducational intervention can improve the attitudes of patients with cancer toward clinical trials and thereby increase their willingness to participate in clinical trials. Findings support conducting additional research to evaluate effects of this intervention on quality of decision making and rates of participation among patients asked to enroll onto therapeutic clinical trials.