International Entrepreneurship
International Entrepreneurship Theoretical Foundations and Practices Antonella Zucchella and Paolo Scabini
Antonella Zucchella and Paolo Scabini 2007 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2007 978-0-230-51547-5 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published in 2007 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world. PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-35386-6 ISBN 978-0-230-59746-4 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9780230597464 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 Transferred to Digital Printing in 2009
Contents List of Figures List of Tables Acknowledgements Foreword vii viii ix x Introduction 1 1 Theoretical Foundations of International Entrepreneurship 5 1.1 Definitions of International Entrepreneurship 6 1.2 Factors affecting International Entrepreneurship 9 1.3 Research gap 18 1.4 Foundations of International Entrepreneurship: from personal to organizational, from static to dynamic variables 21 1.5 A comparison among different theoretical frameworks 25 2 International Business Studies 28 2.1 Economic decision-based approaches to internationalization 30 2.2 Behavioural and evolutionary approaches to internationalization 39 2.3 The contribution of international business theories and models to International Entrepreneurship 52 3 Entrepreneurship Studies 56 3.1 Entrepreneurship in classical and neoclassical economic literature 58 3.2 The entrepreneur according to the Austrian school 60 3.3 Uncertainty and creativity 66 3.4 Entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs 67 v
vi Contents 3.5 Entrepreneurial orientation in organizations 74 3.6 The contribution of entrepreneurship theories and models to International Entrepreneurship 76 4 Strategic Management Studies 80 4.1 The resource-based view 81 4.2 Dynamic capabilities 86 4.3 Networking approaches: a link between strategic management, international business and organizational studies 89 4.4 Networking in local clusters and entrepreneurship 94 4.5 The contribution of strategic management studies to International Entrepreneurship 96 5 A Theoretical Model for International Entrepreneurship 99 5.1 International Entrepreneurship: the firm s capabilities and learning processes 103 5.2 Typologies of International Entrepreneurial organizations 107 5.3 Alternative models of International Entrepreneurship 121 5.4 A resources and capabilities-based model 124 5.5 International opportunity scanning and evaluation 126 5.6 International resource mobilization 127 5.7 Dynamic capabilities 128 5.8 International performance 134 6 Empirical Analysis 137 6.1 Research questions and methodology 137 6.2 General information 143 6.3 Case study 1: Barrera SRL 143 6.4 Case study 2: Fresenius Medical Care Italy 152 6.5 Case study 3: RC Group SpA 159 Conclusion 170 References 175 Index 200
List of Figures A Field of observation 3 1.1 International Entrepreneurship foundations 22 2.1 The establishment chain and stages of the Uppsala model 42 2.2 The basic mechanism of internationalization state and change aspects 43 2.3 Internationalization and the Network model 49 5.1 The process of International Entrepreneurship 101 5.2 Types of International New Venture 109 5.3 Factors affecting subsidiary entrepreneurship 116 5.4 An integrated model of International Entrepreneurship 121 5.5 Model for empirical examination 123 5.6 An interpretative model for International Entrepreneurial organizations 126 vii
List of Tables 1.1 Some International Entrepreneurship definitions 8 1.2 Key drivers of International Entrepreneurship: a literature review 10 1.3 Influence of organizational factors on International Entrepreneurship 13 1.4 A comparison among different theoretical frameworks 26 2.1 Ownership-specific advantages 37 2.2 Location-specific variables 38 2.3 Internalization incentive advantages 39 2.4 Stages in the Innovation-related model 47 5.1 Learning in traditional firms and in International Entrepreneurial organizations 106 6.1 Different types of research purpose 138 6.2 Types of organizational research methods and techniques 140 6.3 General information on the case studies 144 viii
Acknowledgements The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Italian Ministry for Education, Universities and Research (FIRB, Project RISC RBNE039XKA: Research and entrepreneurship in the knowledge-based economy: The effects on the competitiveness of Italy in the European Union ). ix
Foreword Many years back, arriving in a new city to start a new business education, I was hijacked by some students and business managers with the purpose of making me understand the importance of entrepreneurship. Indeed, they managed and an entrepreneurship programme was launched. Since then I have been a great friend of entrepreneurship, basically believing it is as much a matter of attitudes as of intellectual skills. Now I am happy to see entrepreneurship research making such a strong inroad into traditional domains of international business and strategy: a new area of knowledge has been born International Entrepreneurship, leaving the authors of this book to grapple with definitions. This volume is a timely one, integrating previous knowledge from Strategic Management, International Business and Entrepreneurship, helping to shape the contours of our new area of research and, hopefully, education. I believe the book is timely, as I share the view that old Europe risks lagging behind the rapid development in other parts of the world. It is great to see what is effectuated in China and India, for example, but we in Europe need to improve on our international entrepreneurship skills to stay competitive. I believe the authors of this book are making a welcome contribution to research, education and management. JAN-ERIK VAHLNE Professor of International Business University of Göteborg x