A Fuzzy Hybrid Approach to Prioritize Transnational Capabilities for International Markets Entry

Considering the limited resources available, firms must rank their most distinctive capabilities in order to succeed in entering international markets. This research aimed at prioritizing transnational capabilities including marketing, managerial, human resources, production, financial, logistics, research and development, quality and standards and consultation and interaction with the government affecting on the entry of the Iranian steel pipe manufacturers producing gas and oil transit steel pipes into international markets. The study population consisted of experts and procurement, business and marketing managers of the 8 biggest oil and gas steel pipe manufacturers working in Iran. Two pair-wise comparison questionnaires employed to collect the required data. Fuzzy Decision Making Trial & Error Laboratory (FDEMATEL) and Fuzzy Analytic Network Process (FANP) techniques used to analyze the data. The results revealed that the marketing (Net Weight=0.225) and human resources (Net Weight =0.035) capabilities attained the highest and lowest priorities, respectively. The paper is sharing the value creation by presenting a potential process including systematic techniques for ranking transnational capabilities to enter the international markets considering the competitive environment.