Internationalization from emerging nations: evidence of strategic entrepreneurship

Abstract

This study focuses on firms from emerging economies competing in global markets. Such internationalization initiatives are intensely risky because of ("ertain characteristics specific to emerging nations such as resource scarcity. Drawing inferences from our case based research on two firms from the Indian pharmaceutical industry, we propose that firms need to exhibit entrepreneurial behaviour in order to grapple with the risks that they confront while entering and competing in highly advanced global markets. Specifically, firms were found to adopt a strategy of 'fund as you go' to overcome resource constraints over and above the model of 'learn as you go', as suggested by incremental models of internationalization. Case analysis, however, reveals that entrepreneurial behaviour must be complemented by strategic behaviour. Strategic entrepreneurship, i.e., an integration of entrepreneurial and strategic behaviour was found to create sustainable competitive positions in advanced international markets. Propositions are developed pertaining to internationalization efforts of firms from emerging markets that contributes to theory building on this relatively unexplored domain of international business.