The strategies of Japanese firms in emerging markets: The case of the automobile industry in India

Abstract

To inform understanding of the internationalisation of Japanese firms to emerging markets, this study assesses the expansion of the Japanese automobile industry to India along three key dimensions: (i) internationalisation strategy; (ii) corporate agglomeration; and (iii) marketing strategy. We find that majorityowned joint ventures (JVs) and wholly owned subsidiaries are more frequently associated with more recent investment projects relative to minority JVs. We also observe four centres that have emerged on an industry level, suggesting that what constitutes an 'agglomeration' in emerging markets may involve a wider geographic area and more numerous business clusters than is typically the case for Japanese investment in other contexts. Finally, we note that Japanese firms have substantially extended their marketing repertoire in India.

Subsidiary Capacity Building in Emerging Markets: How Japanese MNEs Sequence Market Entry and Development Strategies in India

“…Nevertheless, variations in the response time to changes in the investment environment as well as the willingness to take risks are also notable, which points toward well‐documented intra‐industry effects (see, e.g., Cross & Horn, ). The transport industry—traditionally at the forefront of Japanese firm internationalization—has been spearheaded not only by Japanese but also by foreign investors in India in general (Horn, Cross, & Forsans, ). While Firm B was prepared to take risks and to proactively act as a change agent itself, Firm A's engagement in response to opportunities presented by the 1991 deregulation was somewhat delayed.…”

Immature Brand Management of Electronics Retail Stores in Vietnam

“…Prior research has suggested that Japanese companies should make their efforts to lower their products prices based on the assumption that the high quality and functions of Japanese products have already been well recognized by customers (Shintaku & Amano, 2009). At the same time, other studies argue that many Japanese companies have gone into the premium segment by emphasizing the high quality and functions of their products (Horn, Forsans, & Cross, 2010). However, If the high quality and functions of Japanese companies' products are still not identified in emerging countries because of inadequate brand management, Japanese companies should actively engage in brand management with sales channel in which they can effectively deliver the right message about their products to local customers.…”

“…Japanese companies are also expected to respond to emerging markets by shifting their strategic focus from developed countries to emerging countries (Delios & Henisz, 2000;Horn, Forsans, & Cross, 2010).…”

“…For example, the wage level in emerging countries is lower than that of developed countries, and Japanese products are regarded relatively expensive in emerging countries (Horn, Forsans, & Cross, 2010;Shintaku & Amano, 2009, 2012. In other words, Japanese companies have lost their market share to their Korean and Chinese counterparts that are able to sell products at reasonable prices with certain quality (Shintaku & Amano, 2009).…”

The Internationalization Strategies of Italian MNCs in India

“…Internationalization to India from other countries (considering both exploratory generic studies and researches on specific MNCs management-related aspects) mainly from: Germany (Becker-Ritterspach, 2005Welge, 1994;), Sweden (Jansson, 1982), Denmark (Baark, 1985;Hansen, Petersen, & Wald, 2011), Netherlands (Lieten, 1987), Korea (Pant, 2003;Park, 2004Park, , 2011 and Japan (Horn, Forsans, & Cross, 2010 …”