The time scale of internationalisation: The case of the container port industry

Institutional change of the 1990s in port sectors worldwide has been followed by the emergence of port investing/operating transnational corporations (TNCs). Yet the supply of investment opportunities may be diminishing and evidence suggests the investment time window is closing. Timing thus becomes a critical component of the internationalisation process of firms. This paper focuses on temporal aspects of internationalisation. It puts immediate emphasis on Asian TNCs since - as latecomers - they have grown to dominate the industry. We perform a longitudinal analysis of TNC behaviour in relation to changes in domestic and foreign market conditions. Constraints of an institutional nature facing TNC entry in foreign markets are forcing firms to 'leapfrog' some of the logical sequential phases of internationalisation often assumed by mainstream theory. The degree of openness of foreign markets still largely dictates both opportunities and modalities of private entry. Findings suggest that institutional conditions determine to a large extent what strategic choices may be possible in any given context.