The application of project advancement to developing the deployment procedure for transnational investment: the example of fast food industry entry into mainland China

Abstract

Whenever an enterprise (especially, in the service industry) decides to invest in a specific host country for global market expansion, it has been a common to set up an effective deployment procedure for this host country. Project Advancement (PA) is a method which provides a systematic thinking rule to aid decision-makers. This study applies PA to a fast food industry company's entry into the Mainland China market. The idea of a 'primary business network (PBN)' that consists of three elements: locations for investment, business goals and value-based time limits for these locations, affords a novel view on the fundamental investment objective of multinational enterprises (MNE) to ensure sustainable competitive advantages. Methodologies to find the three elements of PBN are proposed. According to a matrix of 'capital competence' and 'country risk', a proper resource allocation and/or transfer strategy can be recommended to the possibility of creating a PBN.