An empirical analysis of internationalization-performance relationship across Pakistani businesses

Abstract

This study explores the effect of firm cost saving strategy on the relationship between degree of internationalization firm performance in the context of Pakistani firms. The study uses a sample of 180 Pakistani firms. The data collected for the study is spread over a period of 11 years i.e. 1980 company-year observations. Findings suggest that a U-shaped relationship between degree of internationalization performance, already found by the previous studies (Lu & Beamish , 2001; Mauri & Sambharya , 2001; Kotabe et. al, 2002) for established market firms is applicable in the context of Pakistan as well which is basically an emerging market . The firm cost saving strategy has been found to have a moderating effect on the relationship between degree of internationalization firm performance. Keywords: Pakistani firms, degree of internationalization, firm cost saving strategy.