Domestic and international competitive focus, technology strategy and company performance: an empirical analysis

Abstract

This study empirically explores the association of a firm's approach to domestic and international operations with its technological choices and financial performance. The technological choices examined unclude the following: commitment to leading the creation of new technologies: emphasis on internal and external sources of technology: capital spending for technological pursuits: R&D investments. Cluster analysis of data from 180 US electronics firms produced four clusters of international and domestic operations. These clusters exhibited variaions in companies' technological choices and in the associations between technology variables and company financial performance. The results help to identify viable technolgical choices under different combinations of domestic and international competition.