Factors Affecting the Tendency of Food Exporters to Control Their International Activities in Foreign Markets: Case of Food Exporters in Mazandaran Province, Iran

One of the most important decisions companies should make in the process of selecting strategies to enter foreign markets is the extent to which they intend to control themselves and the extent of such international activities they choose to leave to other parties. Having comprehensively reviewed the related literature، the following 12 variables explaining the degree of tendency among companies to control their international activities were proposed: uncertainty of target country، uncertainty of the product market، competitive uncertainty، uncertainty of potential partners'' behavior، international know-how experience، marketing skills، total amount of investment، competition intensity in the given industry، nature of the foreign (trade) activity، size of the firm، and finally، business relatedness. To test the research hypotheses، data were gathered from 150 experts in 42 food exporting companies in Mazandaran province. The results of data analysis demonstrated that except for uncertainty of potential partners'' behavior، other variables could appropriately explain the control variable.