0. Executive summary 3
1. Introduction 4
2. Conceptual and contextual grounding 6
2.1 Objectives 12
2.2 Missing link between managerial cognition and the internationalisation process 14
3. Research Questions 21
4. Methodology 23
5. Literature 26
0. Executive summary
The following research sheds light on the missing link between managerial cognitive maps and the international strategy-making process in the telecommunication industry of European MNCs. Cognition refers to belief systems that individuals use to acquire, store, transform, and utilize knowledge and that influence, frame, constrain and enable decision-making processes and sense making of their environment. This research contributes to a body of work in which different concepts and methods are distinguished to study the basic cognitive processes that influence and shape heuristic decision-making behaviour. In particular, the influence of manager cognitive maps on the internationalisation process and how the internationalisation process is grounded in the managers´ cognitions will be analyzed. Furthermore an attempt is made to work out which categories of managers´ cognitions explain the propensity for internationalisation process. This subject matter will be examined through the analysis of in-depth interviews, using cognitive mapping as a method to gain insights into the nature and significance of cognitive processes in organizational decision making that govern the internationalisation processes within MNCs.
Keywords: managerial cognition, cognitive maps, strategic decision-making, internationalisation process, telec ...