Transnational entrepreneurship: opportunity identification and venture creation

Abstract

The present case study focuses on entrepreneurs who have migrated from one developed economy (Sweden or Finland) to another developed economy (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR)). In contrast to the dominating understanding, we find that the transnational entrepreneurial incentives were opportunity driven rather than necessity based. The opportunity types identified varied, but indicate the importance of service opportunities, a type often left out of studies and classifications. A prevalent characteristic of transnational entrepreneurship is opportunity recognition based on introducing processes or products to the country of residence, familiar from the country of origin or based on use of the entrepreneurs' contacts in the home country. This study showed, however, that although this was the case for two entrepreneurs, some identified opportunities for acting in the opposite direction, or did both import and export. Notably, there was also a fourth category, offering businessfacilitating services, bridging differing cultural contexts in relationshipmiddlemen positions. For these entrepreneurs, there was thus no obvious Bdomestic market^from the start as assumed in traditional internationalization theories. Furthermore, although their businesses started on a limited scale between two countries, they quickly grew and entered other country markets. These transnational businesses thus represent forms of born globals not included in the high-tech business models often associated with such firms. Our findings finally lend support to arguments that a business-favorable institutional environment facilitates and encourages entrepreneurship.

International entrepreneurship from emerging to developed markets: an institutional perspective

“…The study of IE activities from an institutional perspective has been limited and largely conceptual (Bruton et al, 2010;Szyliowicz and Galvin, 2010). Although a small number of empirical studies have explored the effects of institutions on the opportunity recognition stage of the IE process (Muralidharn and Patak, 2017;Lundberg and Rehnfors, 2018) validating how formal and informal institutions constrain entrepreneurial action. Yet we further add to institutional theory by showing how institutions shape IE actions and outcomes throughout the holistic, multi stage IE process.…”

Is this Transnational Entrepreneurship? Five Cases in Which It Is Hard to Say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’

“…Apart from these concepts, scholars have lately started using the notion of ‘transnational entrepreneurship’ (Drori, Honig, & Wright, 2009; Lundberg & Rehnfors, 2018; Pruthi, Basu, & Wright, 2018; Urbano, Toledano, & Ribeiro-Soriano, 2011). This concept emerged through the discussions on transnationalism in the 1990s when anthropologists started to understand immigrants’ integration differently.…”

International Entrepreneurship: An Entrepreneurial Behavior Oriented to the Pursuit of International Opportunities

“…Regarding national and international contexts, some findings underscore the moderating role of formal institutions that enable or constrain different actor-specific behaviors, particularly how they discover, enact, evaluate, and exploit international opportunities [2,98,99]. Specifically, economic liberalization opens frontiers and allows firms to pursue international opportunities in an accelerated way [2,22].…”

“…The IE literature research reveals that different from two common proxies capturing outcomes (e.g., international growth and performance), there is a broader set of outcomes that can be classified into financial and nonfinancial performances [2]. Regarding financial performances, some studies reveal that prevalent indicators of international profitability [16,33,37,42,46,58,122], sales growth and sales volume [69,75,76,83,101,123], operational efficiency [38,124], opportunity selling [27,42,69], venture capital [39,46], licensing [125,126], tax incentives and grants [98,99], new ventures [37,127].…”