IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/worbus/v58y2023i2s1090951622000797.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

To go or not to go? Opportunities as triggers of commitment to internationalisation

Author

Listed:
  • Schembri, Joe
  • Fletcher, Margaret
  • Buck, Trevor

Abstract

This paper extends our theoretical understanding of how international opportunities trigger the knowledge-commitment cycle and lead to growth. Longitudinal data from seven international firms was analysed to build a deep, processual understanding of the opportunities developed by the case study firms. Utilizing an abductive approach, the complexities and contextual dynamics of internationalisation processes were explored as they evolved, revealing that path-breaking opportunities are major events that disrupt the ongoing process of regular opportunity development and provide new knowledge that triggers a greater commitment to internationalisation. While firms may discover path-breaking opportunities at different points in their trajectory over hermeneutic and chronological time, key commitments to international markets are made when such opportunities are in hand or clearly in sight. Our use of an abductive process illustrates its intricacies and suitability for explaining temporal phenomena.

Suggested Citation

  • Schembri, Joe & Fletcher, Margaret & Buck, Trevor, 2023. "To go or not to go? Opportunities as triggers of commitment to internationalisation," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 58(2).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:worbus:v:58:y:2023:i:2:s1090951622000797
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jwb.2022.101388
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090951622000797
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jwb.2022.101388?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John A Mathews & Ivo Zander, 2007. "The international entrepreneurial dynamics of accelerated internationalisation," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 38(3), pages 387-403, May.
    2. Jan-Erik Vahlne & Jan Johanson, 2020. "The Uppsala model: Networks and micro-foundations," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 51(1), pages 4-10, February.
    3. Jan Johanson & Jan-Erik Vahlne, 2009. "The Uppsala internationalization process model revisited: From liability of foreignness to liability of outsidership," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 40(9), pages 1411-1431, December.
    4. Peter J. Buckley & Mark Casson, 2010. "The Optimal Timing of a Foreign Direct Investment," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: The Multinational Enterprise Revisited, chapter 2, pages 25-40, Palgrave Macmillan.
    5. Welch, Denice & Welch, Catherine, 2015. "How global careers unfold in practice: Evidence from international project work," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 1072-1081.
    6. Jan-Erik Vahlne & Jan Johanson, 2017. "From internationalization to evolution: The Uppsala model at 40 years," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 48(9), pages 1087-1102, December.
    7. Catherine Welch & Niina Nummela & Peter Liesch, 2016. "The Internationalization Process Model Revisited: An Agenda for Future Research," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 56(6), pages 783-804, December.
    8. Robert D. Dewar & Jane E. Dutton, 1986. "The Adoption of Radical and Incremental Innovations: An Empirical Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(11), pages 1422-1433, November.
    9. Dimitratos, Pavlos & Johnson, Jeffrey & Slow, Jonathan & Young, Stephen, 2003. "Micromultinationals:: New Types of Firms for the Global Competitive Landscape," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 164-174, April.
    10. Warren J Bilkey & George Tesar, 1977. "The Export Behavior of Smaller-Sized Wisconsin Manufacturing Firms," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 8(1), pages 93-98, March.
    11. Martin Johanson & Igor Kalinic, 2016. "Acceleration and Deceleration in the Internationalization Process of the Firm," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 56(6), pages 827-847, December.
    12. A. Rebecca Reuber & Gary A. Knight & Peter W. Liesch & Lianxi Zhou, 2018. "International entrepreneurship: The pursuit of entrepreneurial opportunities across national borders," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(4), pages 395-406, May.
    13. A Rebecca Reuber & Pavlos Dimitratos & Olli Kuivalainen, 2017. "Beyond categorization: New directions for theory development about entrepreneurial internationalization," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 48(4), pages 411-422, May.
    14. Raymond Vernon, 1966. "International Investment and International Trade in the Product Cycle," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 80(2), pages 190-207.
    15. Marian V Jones & Nicole E Coviello, 2005. "Internationalisation: conceptualising an entrepreneurial process of behaviour in time," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 36(3), pages 284-303, May.
    16. Jonathan Levie & Benyamin B. Lichtenstein, 2010. "A Terminal Assessment of Stages Theory: Introducing a Dynamic States Approach to Entrepreneurship," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 34(2), pages 317-350, March.
    17. Chandra, Yanto & Coviello, Nicole, 2010. "Broadening the concept of international entrepreneurship: 'Consumers as International Entrepreneurs'," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 228-236, July.
    18. Andrew H. van de Ven & George P. Huber, 1990. "Longitudinal Field Research Methods for Studying Processes of Organizational Change," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 1(3), pages 213-219, August.
    19. Fletcher, Margaret & Harris, Simon & Richey, Robert Glenn, 2021. "Retrospective and prospective learning: Accelerating the internationalization process," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 56(3).
    20. Dorothy Leonard-Barton, 1990. "A Dual Methodology for Case Studies: Synergistic Use of a Longitudinal Single Site with Replicated Multiple Sites," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 1(3), pages 248-266, August.
    21. Welch, Catherine & Piekkari, Rebecca, 2017. "How should we (not) judge the ‘quality’ of qualitative research? A re-assessment of current evaluative criteria in International Business," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 52(5), pages 714-725.
    22. Catherine Welch & Rebecca Piekkari & Emmanuella Plakoyiannaki & Eriikka Paavilainen-Mantymaki, 2011. "Theorising from case studies: Towards a pluralist future for international business research," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 42(5), pages 740-762, June.
    23. Otto Andersen, 1993. "On the Internationalization Process of Firms: A Critical Analysis," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 24(2), pages 209-231, June.
    24. Hohenthal, Jukka & Johanson, Jan & Johanson, Martin, 2003. "Market discovery and the international expansion of the firm," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 12(6), pages 659-672, December.
    25. Fletcher, Margaret & Zhao, Yang & Plakoyiannaki, Emmanuella & Buck, Trevor, 2018. "Three Pathways to Case Selection in International Business: A Twenty–Year Review, Analysis and Synthesis," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 755-766.
    26. Di Gregorio, Dante & Musteen, Martina & Thomas, Douglas E., 2008. "International new ventures: The cross-border nexus of individuals and opportunities," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 186-196, March.
    27. Grazia D Santangelo & Klaus E Meyer, 2017. "Internationalization as an evolutionary process," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 48(9), pages 1114-1130, December.
    28. Chandra, Yanto, 2017. "Social entrepreneurship as emancipatory work," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 657-673.
    29. Coviello, Nicole E. & Jones, Marian V., 2004. "Methodological issues in international entrepreneurship research," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 485-508, July.
    30. Anika Laperrière & Martine Spence, 2015. "Enacting international opportunities: The role of organizational learning in knowledge-intensive business services," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 212-241, September.
    31. Prashantham, Shameen, 2008. "New venture internationalization as strategic renewal," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 378-387, December.
    32. Geoffrey Jones & Tarun Khanna, 2006. "Bringing history (back) into international business," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 37(4), pages 453-468, July.
    33. Leila Hurmerinta & Eriikka Paavilainen-Mäntymäki & Mélanie E. Hassett, 2016. "TEMPUS FUGIT: A Hermeneutic Approach to the Internationalisation Process," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 56(6), pages 805-825, December.
    34. G. Tomas M. Hult & Maria Alejandra Gonzalez-Perez & Katarina Lagerström, 2020. "The theoretical evolution and use of the Uppsala Model of internationalization in the international business ecosystem," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 51(1), pages 38-49, February.
    35. Schembri, Joe & Tang, Yee Kwan & Fletcher, Margaret & Dimitratos, Pavlos, 2019. "How do European trade promotion organisations manage their stakeholders?," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 1-1.
    36. Mikael Hilmersson & Stylianos Papaioannou, 2015. "SME international opportunity scouting—empirical insights on its determinants and outcomes," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 186-211, September.
    37. Dubois, Anna & Gadde, Lars-Erik, 2002. "Systematic combining: an abductive approach to case research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 55(7), pages 553-560, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alexander Tabares & Yanto Chandra & Claudia Alvarez & Manuela Escobar-Sierra, 2021. "Opportunity-related behaviors in international entrepreneurship research: a multilevel analysis of antecedents, processes, and outcomes," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 321-368, March.
    2. Sinéad Monaghan & Esther Tippmann, 2018. "Becoming a multinational enterprise: Using industry recipes to achieve rapid multinationalization," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(4), pages 473-495, May.
    3. Fletcher, Margaret & Harris, Simon & Richey, Robert Glenn, 2021. "Retrospective and prospective learning: Accelerating the internationalization process," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 56(3).
    4. Niina Nummela & Tiia Vissak & Barbara Francioni, 2022. "The interplay of entrepreneurial and non-entrepreneurial internationalization: an illustrative case of an Italian SME," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 295-325, March.
    5. Niittymies, Aleksi & Pajunen, Kalle & Lamberg, Juha-Antti, 2022. "Temporality and firm de-internationalization: Three historical approaches," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 57(6).
    6. Nuno Calheiros-Lobo & José Vasconcelos Ferreira & Manuel Au-Yong-Oliveira, 2023. "SME Internationalization and Export Performance: A Systematic Review with Bibliometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-36, May.
    7. Rubina Romanello & Maria Chiarvesio, 2019. "Early internationalizing firms: 2004–2018," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 172-219, June.
    8. Aaltonen, Päivi Hanna Maria, 2020. "Piecing together a puzzle—A review and research agenda on internationalization and the promise of exaptation," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(4).
    9. Dzikowski, Piotr, 2018. "A bibliometric analysis of born global firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 281-294.
    10. Elsahn, Ziad & Earl, Anna, 2022. "Alternative ways of studying time in qualitative international business research: A review and future agenda," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(3).
    11. Galkina, Tamara & Yang, Man, 2020. "Bringing Nordic Slush to Asia: Entrepreneurial internationalization of an NGO as a social movement," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(6).
    12. Francisco García-Lillo & Enrique Claver-Cortés & Bartolomé Marco-Lajara & Mercedes Úbeda-García, 2017. "Mapping the Intellectual Structure of Research on ‘Born Global’ Firms and INVs: A Citation/Co-citation Analysis," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 631-652, August.
    13. Metsola, Jaakko & Leppäaho, Tanja & Paavilainen-Mäntymäki, Eriikka & Plakoyiannaki, Emmanuella, 2020. "Process in family business internationalisation: The state of the art and ways forward," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(2).
    14. Len J Treviño & Jonathan P Doh, 0. "Internationalization of the firm: A discourse-based view," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 0, pages 1-19.
    15. Hoorani, Bareerah Hafeez & Plakoyiannaki, Emmanuella & Gibbert, Michael, 2023. "Understanding time in qualitative international business research: Towards four styles of temporal theorizing," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 58(1).
    16. Dimitratos, Pavlos & Johnson, Jeffrey E. & Plakoyiannaki, Emmanuella & Young, Stephen, 2016. "SME internationalization: How does the opportunity-based international entrepreneurial culture matter?," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 1211-1222.
    17. Len J Treviño & Jonathan P Doh, 2021. "Internationalization of the firm: A discourse-based view," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(7), pages 1375-1393, September.
    18. Decker, Stephanie, 2022. "Introducing the eventful temporality of historical research into international business," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 57(6).
    19. Farhad Uddin Ahmed & Louis Brennan, 2021. "A review of methodological diversity within the domain of international entrepreneurship," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 256-299, June.
    20. Ciravegna, Luciano & Kuivalainen, Olli & Kundu, Sumit K. & Lopez, Luis E., 2018. "The antecedents of early internationalization: A configurational perspective," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 1200-1212.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:worbus:v:58:y:2023:i:2:s1090951622000797. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/620401/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.