The effects of ownership concentration and institutional distance on the foreign entry ownership strategy of Turkish MNEs

Abstract

We investigate how ownership concentration and institutional distance both directly influence the equity-based ownership strategies of a sample of Turkish MNEs, and also how institutional differences moderate the link between ownership concentration and the equity-based ownership strategies of these firms. The findings suggest that neither ownership concentration nor institutional distance significantly affects the level of equity ownership. Although institutional distance variables have no direct effects on equity ownership, they tend to moderate the relationships between the ownership concentration and foreign equity ownership strategy of Turkish MNEs. In particular, we provide evidence that the regulative and normative dimensions of institutional distance affect the strength of the relationships between equity ownership strategy of MNEs and ownership concentration more so than the cognitive dimension of institutional distance.