The role of a strategic net in international entrepreneurship: overcoming the liabilities of foreignness and outsidership in the context of the Pharma industry

Abstract

International entrepreneurship is a promising research stream which focusses on how established firms expand internationally. This study aims to understand the role of a strategic net on the internationalisation process of the firms. By viewing internationalisation as a multilateral network development process, this paper focusses on the development of relationships induced by a strategic net and how those relationships can support firms to overcome both the liabilities of outsidership and foreignness as two different, yet interlinked processes. To this end, we perform a longitudinal exploratory case study of a strategic net in the Pharma industry. Our results show the following: First, the social exchange between the members of the strategic net enables the creation and exploration of opportunities for internationalisation. Second, the strategic net can be a mechanism for overcoming the liability of foreignness (a lack of institutional market knowledge)especially in the context of heavily regulated industries. And, third, with regard to the liability of outsidership, when breaking into foreign networks, firms reflect their idiosyncratic capabilities and differentiated views in the creation and development of opportunities with specific counterparts.

Exploring the relationship between corporate entrepreneurship and firm performance: the mediating effect of strategic entrepreneurship

“…He explains that one of the challenges that businesses face is how to obtain and maintain a competitive advantage. Utilizing strategic entrepreneurship helps firms to address the rapid changes of the environment, as well as the changes that might threaten businesses and affect their nature (Santos et al , 2019; Sharma, 2019). Considerable anecdotal evidence suggests that strategic entrepreneurship is a common practice in successful firms.…”

Subáreas de internacionalización de emprendimientos: una revisión bibliográfica

“…Dichas oportunidades permiten eludir procesos de alto costo efectuados tradicionalmente previo al ingreso de nuevos mercados como investigaciones, visitas al mercado, entre otras; y, a su vez, en el trabajo con las redes dinámicas otorgan aportes valiosos a la organización como conocimientos tecnológicos y de las tendencias (Sullivan & Weerawardena, 2006). Por su parte, Santos, Mota & Baptista (2019) vislumbran beneficios como la exploración de oportunidades en el extranjero, adquisición de nuevos mercados y generación de capacidades idiosincrásicas que reconfiguran el pensamiento y enriquecen los procesos empresariales en función de las necesidades de los nuevos mercados. Estos autores muestran que la red debe evolucionar a una concepción estratégica.…”

Linking strategic entrepreneurship to business growth in Iranian IoT-based companies

“…According to DC theory, the development of DC through entrepreneurial activities around recognizing and seizing opportunities enables businesses to sustain competitive advantage in unstable environments (Teece et al, 2007). From a theoretical perspective, DC theory is linked to SE and can be regarded as the theoretical precursor of SE (Santos et al, 2019). It provides a connection to link entrepreneurship and strategic management because of interdisciplinary foundations (Wright and Hitt, 2017).…”

“…Paek and Lee (2018) point out that EOR is possible through the SE process. SE activities are accomplished at different levels, such as projects and functions, and its common goal is the improvement of the competitive situation and opportunity recognition (Santos et al, 2019;Sharma, 2019). On the other hand, according to Boudreaux (2020), the discovery and extraction of entrepreneurial opportunities form the basis of BG.…”

“…They explained that one of the challenges that businesses face is how to obtain and maintain a competitive advantage. Using SE helps firms to answer the rapid changes of the environment, the changes that might threaten businesses and affect their nature (Santos et al, 2019;Sharma, 2019). Considerable anecdotal evidence has suggested that SE is common to successful firms.…”