Sample The following procedure was used to select firms for the sample. First, all publicly traded restaurant firms with relevant data available on Compustat IndustrialAnnualfrom1965to2004wereselected.Theprocessofinternationalizationis a long-term strategy employed by restaurant firms and because annual data is aggregated it can better depict general trends. Next, international restaurant firms were identified and kept, while all domestic firms werere moved from the sample