The literature suggests that protection of knowledge from the threat for opportunism is a primary mover for the choice of entry mode.However,the knowledge construct is oversimplified in the literature on entry mode.The combination of different types of knowledge held by a firm reduces the risk of misappropriation and the threat of opportunism is often unimportant in entry mode decisions.Based on these discussions,a new conceptual knowledgebased model of entry mode choice is devoloped.In this model,the knowledge is classified into business knowledge and location knowledge,the strategies into exploitation and exploration.This model focuses on two main attributes of knowledge,namely,embedded ness and complementarity.It is suggested that embedded ness and complementarity of business knowledge and location knowledge affect the entry mode choice.The knowledge strategies moderate the relationships between the attributes of knowledge and entry mode.Transferring capacity is also introduced in this model.
