Host-country location decisions of early movers and latecomers: The role of local density and experiential learning

► We examine two waves of inward FDI: early movers and latecomers. ► Each group co-locates with earlier home-country entrants. ► Latecomers focus on local depth. ► Early movers shift from local depth to national breadth. ► Early movers are further along the same trajectory as latecomers. Service firms such as banks and hotels typically locate multiple foreign affiliates in the same host country. Often, these location patterns occur in waves with early movers followed by latecomers; for example, the early entries of Japanese banks into the U.S. market in the 1970s and 1980s were followed by emerging-market Asian banks in the 1990s. Using insights from the agglomeration and organizational learning literatures, we argue that local density and experiential learning affect location choices within a host country, and that these relationships differ between early movers and latecomers. We test and find support for our arguments using a sample of Asian banks in the United States over 1997–2003.