Title: Assessment and analysis of factors depicting the international expansion process of mobile network operators: case of Zain Telecom

Authors: Atef Harb; Carol Yaacoub; Abdallah Kassem; César Baena

Addresses: Faculty of Business Administration and Economics and Faculty of Engineering, ECCE Department, Notre Dame University, Louaize, Lebanon ' Faculty of Business Administration and Economics and Faculty of Engineering, ECCE Department, Notre Dame University, Louaize, Lebanon ' Faculty of Business Administration and Economics and Faculty of Engineering, ECCE Department, Notre Dame University, Louaize, Lebanon ' KEDGE Business School, France

Abstract: The internationalisation of a small mobile operator into the surrounding emerging markets is an entrepreneurial and risky process due to the target markets' nature. This paper deals with market and timing factors potentially influencing the transaction costs of a company in its international ventures based on Gerpott and Jakopin's paper 'Determinants of mobile network operators' choice of cross-border entry modes'. This model did not seem to explain all factors influencing the entry mode choices of Zain Telecom. Hence, in order to understand the managerial drivers in Zain Telecom's decision-making, a holistic framework market and market entry mode selection (MEMS) model was used. This framework shed the light on many of the managerial facets of Zain's strategical decision-making and answered the following question: How did the target country, market, and timing factors contribute in shaping Zain Telecom's cross-border entry mode choices?

Keywords: small mobile operator; Zain Telecom; mobile network operators; cross border entry modes; globalisation; telecommunication; international ventures; emerging market; geographic proximity; telecom's roots; information flows.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTLID.2017.084920

International Journal of Technological Learning, Innovation and Development, 2017 Vol.9 No.2, pp.97 - 113

Received: 16 Feb 2016
Accepted: 06 Mar 2016
Published online: 09 Jul 2017 *

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