Abstract

Internationalization is an essential component of corporate strategy. The present study, which focuses on the
renewable energy sector, is an empirical investigation into the prognostic strength of the Gestalt Approach of
International Business Strategies (GAINS approach) for the identification of potentially successful strategies for
internationalization, focusing on the mode of market entry.
The results show that (1) the GAINS approach has a high prognostic potential for successful internationalization
strategies, since (a) FIT configurations represent Gestalts, i.e. they show significantly higher success of
internationalization than other configurations, (b) consistent configurations show significantly higher success
than congruent configurations and (c) MISFIT configurations prove to be the least successful configuration. (2)
Although FIT configurations promise the highest success of internationalization, the results indicate that many
companies do not enter into fit configurations. Yet, it was proven, that (3) CONSISTENT configurations are
preferred compared to CONGRUENT configurations and (4) MISFIT configurations are significantly being
avoided.

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