Research summary:This study draws on the resource-based view and the behavioral theory of the firm to gain new insights about the effect of performance relative to aspiration level (i.e., performance feedback) on the decision to enter new markets. Results show an inverted U-shaped relationship between performance both below and above aspiration level, and the probability of firms to enter new markets. That is, when firms are well below or well above their aspiration level, they significantly change their behavior. This article develops a theoretical framework to clarify and organize these findings.Managerial summary: This study examines the effect of performance feedback, and particularly, large discrepancies between firm performance and aspiration level on the decision to enter new markets. It provides support to the role of performance feedback in affecting the decision to enter new markets, a factor that has received relatively little attention in the extensive literature that has examined the inducements of such moves. Results show that, as performance falls below or rises above aspiration, a firm's probability of entering new markets increases up to a certain point after which this relationship decreases. This shows that the tendency to enter new markets is different for firms that are in the neighborhood of aspiration level compared to those that are well below or above it. into markets during a period as an event. For robustness test, we used the number of new markets as our dependent variable and re-estimated the models. The main results did not change.

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PurposeThe relationship between multinationality and firm performance is a central issue in the international marketing and business literatures. Predominantly, this body of research has tried to identify a single, generalized pattern for this relationship. However, despite the vast number of studies, results have been characterized as mixed or inconsistent. In this study, we take a fresh look at this relationship.Design/methodology/approachWe focus on a key inducement to expand firm multinationality – the search for a more efficient way to exploit firm resources, and also on a specific operationalization of multinationality – firm geographic scope. We use a formal analytical model analyzing the trade-off between benefits and costs arising from expanding firm geographic scope and emphasizing the role of lumpy costs emanating from resource indivisibility.FindingsThe relationship between geographic scope and performance cannot be confined to a single pattern, but instead, may have any one of a set of patterns: negatively monotonic shape, inverted U-shape, S-shape, M-shape or, multiple-wave inverted U-shape.Practical implicationsThe current study offers managers some guidelines to identify which of the above patterns fits their firm's specific case, and to identify the optimal level of geographic scope for their firm.Originality/valueWe conclude that the search for a single, generalized pattern for multinationality-performance is largely futile, whereas the focus on specific inducements and operationalizations for multinationality allows us to explain when and why specific patterns are more likely to occur.

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