Foreign Market Entry Into Poland: Success Versus Failure

The concept of a 'transitional turbulent market' is not clearly defined in extant international business literature. Emerging communistic markets in Eastern Europe undergoing 'transition' to market based economies, are defined as such. The constraints facing foreign firms for entry mode and operations are considerable, with high risk of failure associated with this 'turbulent' environment. This is more so for western firms. The aim of this paper is the identification of western firm perceptions of the constraints to foreign market entry into 'turbulent transitional markets' and what impact this has on entry mode. Findings suggest multiple entry modes are sought. In addition, international business theory does not singularly explain this process for western firms and findings suggest that foreign direct investment, stage model and network perspective are used concurrently. However, emphasis was found for the network perspective to explain how western firms manage the particular constraints operating in 'turbulent transitional markets'.