Analysis of international market entry strategies by fuzzy multi-criteria decision making methods

Nowadays, international markets have a strategic importance for companies that want to maintain their current status and a profitable activity in increasingly competitive environment. A company that has decided to enter the international market should choose its target market entry strategy by making the right analysis. There are many criteria such as economic, political, cultural, geographical and financial regarding the market in which the company will enter and the evaluation criteria in order to determine the most appropriate international entry strategy have great importance. This decision significantly affects the success of the company in the international market. The aim of this thesis is to analyse international market entry strategy of a home textile company that have its own brand with fuzzy multi-criteria decision making methods. In the thesis, firstly with the help of the literature review and the experts working in the company five criteria and thirty sub-criteria have been determined. In the second stage, criteria weights have been determined with Fuzzy PIPRECIA method, and in the third stage, the best international market entry strategy has been selected with Fuzzy TOPSIS method, Fuzzy CODAS method and Fuzzy EDAS method. Sensitivity analysis has been performed to check the reliability and accuracy of the results. As a result of the alternative ranking, the same result has been obtained with all three methods and franchise has been chosen as the most appropriate international target market entry strategy. The proposed method is anticipated to assist managers in choosing an international market entry strategy by providing a different perspective.