Foreign operations methods (or modes--the terms are used interchangeably) are defined by Welch (Melbourne Business School, Australia), Benito (BI Norwegian School of Management, Norway), and
Petersen (Copenhagen Business School, Denmark) "as the institutional/organizational arrangements that are used in order to conduct an international business activity, such as the manufacturing
of goods, servicing customers, sourcing various inputs--in fact, undertaking any business function." In this work, they provide an overview of the research concerning foreign operation methods.
They first describe the main theoretical approaches including behavioral, networks, and economics perspectives. They then offer description and analysis of the various modes, covering
franchising, licensing, management contracts, international subcontracting, exporting, alliances, and foreign direct investment. Finally they discuss mode switching and stretching strategies,
mode combination strategies, and internationalization and international strategies. Annotation 穢2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
