Decision specific experience in foreign ownership and establishment strategies: Evidence from Japanese firms

In this paper, we examine the importance of decision specific experience fo r a multinational firm's foreign ownership structure and establishment mode decisions. A unique procedure to measure the decision specific experience construct is developed. Based on data for the period 1969-1991, we find str ong empirical evidence from experiences of Japanese firms to support the hy potheses that firms fend to select ownership structures and establishment m odes based on their experiences with similar ownership structures and estab lishment modes in the past.