Abstract:
This study attempts to pinpoint the factors that play a decisive role in the decision process of Balearic hotel chains when choosing a growth strategy for expansion into the Caribbean in order to ascertain whether principles associated with the transaction-cost, agency and the strategic theories of organisational capability and knowledge in companies can explain the growth strategy chosen by these chains in the said region. The conclusions show the transaction cost theory must be modified incorporating factors of an institutional and cultural nature. This study facilitates a comparison of the results of this paper and the results of other similar studies of the international hotel industry. choice of entry mode ; syncretic theory ; internationalization ; agency theory