Financial service firms' entry-mode choice, network linkages and cultural diversity : Spanish companies in Latin America

For many years the management of international manufacturing operations has been complicated by the enormous changes taking place around the globe. Emerging markets in many newly industrialised countries have called the attention of managers of manufacturing companies that were facing heavy domestic and global domestic pressure. In spite of its economic relevance, there is still a lot to be done before all key barriers to the effective management of international manufacturing operations are identified. The situation is even worse when the management of international service operations is considered. The share of services in international trade, the amount of foreign direct investments made by service-sector companies, as well as the number of multinational service-sector enterprises has been increasing rapidly in the last two decades. However, this is a very young area of concern for both practitioners and academics. Consequently, the existing studies on service internationalisation apply a fairly broad theoretical base. This paper tries to contribute to filling this gap by examining the internationalisation behaviour of Spanish financial service-sector companies in Latin America to find out if general internationalisation patterns are applicable or if the manufacturing sector, which they are supposed to serve, might influence their internationalisation behaviour. The analysis is based on rank correlation between the internationalisation patterns of each company and the relevant indicators of this phenomenon for the period 1985 to 1996. Such relevant indicators are: 1) Total amount of Spanish net investments (no portfolio investments included), 2) Total amount of Spanish exports of manufactured products, 3) Index of deregulation and liberalisation of financial markets, 4) Leading international banking countries in Latin America, in terms of foreign banking activities, and 5) Leading international insurance countries, in terms of insurance premiums.