"Alertness to International Business Opportunities: Firm Characteristics, Experience & Networks"

Abstract

In response to calls for greater incorporation of entrepreneurship theory into international entrepreneurship research, we theorize that alertness to international business opportunities (IBOs) will play a crucial role in international entrepreneurial activity. We predict that firms will vary in their alertness to IBOs depending on a range of firm characteristics, prior international experience and social networks. Drawing on a sample of 92 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), we find that alertness to international business opportunities is associated with firm characteristics (age, technological innovation via patents, employment growth, and entrepreneurial orientation), prior international experience (scale and breadth of foreign sales, foreign language capabilities of managers), and social networks (total network ties, range of foreign ties, range of domestic ties to international entities). The results provide evidence that the environmental complexity and uncertainty associated with international business contexts create rich opportunities to study entrepreneurial processes such as the recognition and evaluation of business opportunities. We discuss implications specifically for international entrepreneurship and for the broader relation between prior experience, social networks and entrepreneurial alertness.