Foreign Entry and Survival in a Knowledge-Intensive Market: Emerging Economy Countries' International Linkages, Technology Competences, and Firm Experience

This article examines the entry into and survival in the U.S. software market by a sample of firms based in India, Ireland, and Israel, with a focus on the pre-entry technological capabilities, international linkages, and home-based experience of these firms as determinants. Using a novel measure of foreign activity, namely, the registration of software trademarks in the United States, this study applies the date of the first trademark application filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a proxy for a firm’s U.S. entry. Trademark renewals and new trademark applications trace the sample firms’ survival. The analysis shows that international linkages have a positive relationship with entry and survival, whereas firm technological capabilities and age are not associated with entry, though technological capabilities affect the likelihood of survival.