Causality Link Between Foreign Technological Environment and Electric Car Manufacturers' International Expansion by the Example of Tesla and Chademo

Nowadays the automotive industry is experiencing major changes and challenges related to the necessity to find alternatives to common internal combustion engines. Electric cars seem to be the most promising option, but they entail some fundamental differences if compared to common cars powered by internal combustion engines. In this thesis, we analyse if there is a link between international expansion of electric car producers and foreign technological environment. The analysis made is both quantitative and qualitative because a regression analysis has been carried out, as well as a correlation analysis, and then a qualitative analysis of markets for complementary assets has been performed. Therefore, there are four research questions: 1. Is there a causality link between foreign technological environment and international expansion strategies of electric car manufacturers? 2. Which internationalization strategies should electric vehicles’ producers choose in order to expand internationally in countries with different environments? 3. Considering foreign technological environments, when should electric car manufacturers prefer greenfield over acquisitions? 4. Considering foreign technological environments, when should electric car manufacturers prefer the establishment of wholly owned subsidiaries against joint-ventures? These questions have been addressed in the thesis.