Information search for FDI: the effect of firm age, size and the sector

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the type of information sources and the usefulness level of these sources utilized by the FDI firms based in Turkey when they were establishing equity ventures in foreign countries. The paper also aims to examine the relationship between information source used by the FDI firms and their age, size and the sector. Analysis of the cross-sectional data collected from 27 manufacturing and 36 commerce FDI firms indicates that sampled firms utilized in-house research, the internet and the other media prior to FDI involvement. Non-parametric test results show that there is almost no significant difference between the young and old firms in terms of usage and usefulness of different information sources for FDr. While the usages of different information sources for FDI moderately vary based on the size of the FDI firms, there is no significant difference between the mean values of small and large firms in terms of the usefulness of the information sources for FDI. Finally, usage and usefulness of the information sources do not vary much between manufacturing and commerce firms.