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Organizational Identity And Capability Development In Internationalization: Transference, Splicing, And Enhanced Imitation In Tesco’S Us Market Entry, Michelle Lowe, Gerard George, Oliver Alexy

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Entry into international markets is a challenging process that fundamentally tests existing capabilities. During this entry process, capability gaps arise that need to be bridged to exploit the commercial opportunity and grow the business. Using a global retailer, Tesco plc, as a case study and employing grounded theory development techniques, we find that to achieve growth, two organizational attributes become critical—structural coherence of the firm’s capabilities and organizational identity. We identify three processes of capability development during market entry—transference, splicing and enhanced imitation. Further, actions and processes that maintain or adapt organizational identity serve as moderators of the relationship between …