Internationalization process of Finnish hospitality firms
Nurmi, Johanna (2013)
Nurmi, Johanna
HAAGA-HELIA ammattikorkeakoulu
2013
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2013060813568
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2013060813568
Tiivistelmä
The importance of the service industry has increased notably during the past decades, making it the most central source of livelihood around the globe. Consequently, internationalizing services has grown importance and has also become a current issue in the Finnish market, thus there is a need for more research.
This paper presents the current research on the internationalization process of service firms and adapts the information to the Finnish hospitality industry. Moreover, one of the goals is to encourage more Finnish hospitality companies to go to foreign markets by determining the key phases and issues companies have to evaluate and plan thoroughly. The theoretical framework is built according to the steps of the internationalization process. Consequently, the phases examined in this thesis are: potential international growth, market entry strategy, establishing presence and perceived service value.
The empirical study is conducted with thematic face-to-face in-depth interviews with Finnish hospitality company representatives involved in the internationalization process. The interviews were conducted in April 2013 in order to map out and gather detailed information on the process. The outcome of the research is presented as case studies following the same theoretical framework established in the beginning of the thesis.
Lastly, the interview results are concluded in a table making them comparable and discussed further in relation to the research questions formed in the beginning of the report. As the outcome of the research and the empirical study, it can be concluded how maintaining and creating the perceived service value in the host country is very different from the home market. Moreover, culture turned out to be the highly influential factor in the foreign country. Accordingly, the results revealed local adaptation to be essential in the new business environment in every case, as all business is local and success is not transferable.
This paper presents the current research on the internationalization process of service firms and adapts the information to the Finnish hospitality industry. Moreover, one of the goals is to encourage more Finnish hospitality companies to go to foreign markets by determining the key phases and issues companies have to evaluate and plan thoroughly. The theoretical framework is built according to the steps of the internationalization process. Consequently, the phases examined in this thesis are: potential international growth, market entry strategy, establishing presence and perceived service value.
The empirical study is conducted with thematic face-to-face in-depth interviews with Finnish hospitality company representatives involved in the internationalization process. The interviews were conducted in April 2013 in order to map out and gather detailed information on the process. The outcome of the research is presented as case studies following the same theoretical framework established in the beginning of the thesis.
Lastly, the interview results are concluded in a table making them comparable and discussed further in relation to the research questions formed in the beginning of the report. As the outcome of the research and the empirical study, it can be concluded how maintaining and creating the perceived service value in the host country is very different from the home market. Moreover, culture turned out to be the highly influential factor in the foreign country. Accordingly, the results revealed local adaptation to be essential in the new business environment in every case, as all business is local and success is not transferable.