Crash-Landing in a Turbulent Transition Market : A Legitimating Activity?

Sammanfattning: With the transition of Central Eastern European countries, a number of foreign companies saw opportunities to enter this virgin ground for business that was evolving. For many firms the entry into these countries became problematic due to the turbulence. According to the network approach, the entry process is the process of positioning the firm within the networks in the host country. The question raised within this thesis is if this is the case when the market is in transition and evolving. The purpose of the thesis is to study the foreign market entry process of firms and the relevance of the network approach when analysing foreign market entries into turbulent transition economies.A case study of three life insurance companies' entry processes into the Polish market based on interviews, letters and press material were conducted where the interactions between the entrant and the actors in its environment is analysed. The empirical findings show that although the networks were underdeveloped, the entry process can be understood as one of positioning the firm in the network. The networks do exist but they differ from the ones that exist in more developed markets. It is proposed that expectations on the firm from different constituents within the host and the home country will affect how much time and effort that will be needed for the foreign market entry to be realized. Legitimacy is within this thesis proposed as an explanatory variable in understanding the process of entering foreign markets.