Linking Periphery with Centre: The liability and usefulness of returnee entrepreneurial firm in home country context

Abstract

Returnee entrepreneurship has received increasing attention because of its characteristics of innovation, international orientation and performance advantage, but understanding of how returnee entrepreneurial firms achieve desirable entrepreneurial goals in home country context is limited. Drawing on literature on the centre-peripheral dichotomy in international scientific community, this paper attempts to investigate context constraints that influence returnee entrepreneurial firms' innovation and entrepreneurship performance in the home country and to explain how firms deal with these constraints. Based on a longitudinal case study that investigates a successful returnee entrepreneurial firm from China, research findings show that the returnee entrepreneurial firm is able to overcome its peripheral research condition by developing international network connections with researchers at the centre of the international scientific community. However, the firm may not be able to properly respond to the regulatory regime constraints without having a good understanding of the home country and making re-adjustments accordingly. Hence, this study presents a discussion of the usefulness and liability of returnee entrepreneurial firms that influence their entrepreneurship process and performance in the home country.