The Modes of Entry Preferred By Indian IT (Software) Companies to Enter South Africa

Context and Problem Statement:Since globalization has influenced many firms to look for potential markets away from theirhome country, the modes of entry decision has gained importance. The choice of entrymode has a significant influence on the success of the firm’s operations thus it is a criticaldecision to make. However, existing literature on service firm’s entry mode decision and itsinfluencing factors are limited, especially those from emerging economies. This study wasthus aimed at investigating the modes of entry that were preferred by Indian IT firmsentering South Africa.Method:Three firms were included in the study. Qualitative methodology was used to collect (openendinterview) and analyze (content analysis) the data.Four top management people were interviewed from three participant firms. The recordedinterviews were then transcribed into text data which was then analyzed using constantcomparison method. The empirical indicators from data were compared with each otherduring analysis.Results:The results suggest that the choice of entry mode is influenced by the interplay of variousfactors.This study shows that the factors that influenced the Indian IT service firms are similar tothose of manufacturing firms, but may differ in their degree of influence. The study alsofinds “time of entry” to be a major category/factor that may play a vital role in influencingthe entry mode decision.