Abstract
This study explores the under-researched yet increasingly important process of collective international opportunity recognition. Collective opportunities are created through the interaction and joint acts of several firms and, thus, involve a complex merging of different perspectives and interests. This study analyses why some entrepreneurs recognise collective opportunities in foreign markets while others do not. The empirical data comprise qualitative interviews with 20 representatives of Finnish small- and medium-sized maritime enterprises that are exploring internationalisation opportunities in Norway and Russia. The study suggests that collective international opportunity recognition is affected by the entrepreneur’s mental images of inter-firm collaboration and the foreign market. These images comprise his or her interpretations of relevant experiences, the current strategies and resources, and attractiveness of the context. Mental images are built on information and stimuli that the entrepreneur receives regarding potential partner firms and the foreign market, although these inputs are interpreted through the current images. The study advances international entrepreneurship research by providing insights into the subjective and contextual process of collective international opportunity recognition from the perspective of individual entrepreneurs, exploring mental images as drivers in this process, and describing the content of these images. The study highlights the complexities involved in opportunity recognition in an international collaborative setting.
Highlights
Opportunity recognition is an iterative, complex, and ambiguous process (Ardichvili et al 2003; Renko et al 2012; Muzychenko and Liesch 2015), as it is both socially and culturally embedded (Fletcher 2004)
Mental images are built on information and stimuli that the entrepreneur receives concerning potential partner firms and the foreign market, these inputs are interpreted through the respective images held currently
The recognition of a collective international opportunity is distinct from general opportunity recognition in that the former involves the merging of two mental images: that of inter-firm collaboration and that of the foreign market
Summary
Opportunity recognition is an iterative, complex, and ambiguous process (Ardichvili et al 2003; Renko et al 2012; Muzychenko and Liesch 2015), as it is both socially and culturally embedded (Fletcher 2004). International opportunities are often exploited in more uncertain environments than those of the local surroundings (Butler et al 2010; Nowiński and Rialp 2015); opportunity recognition in an international context can be considered an increasingly complex process to understand and conceptualise To add to this complexity, the extant studies on international opportunity recognition highlight the role of business networks in the process (e.g. Johanson and Vahlne 2009; Ellis 2011; Juho 2011; Söderqvist 2011; Blankenburg Holm et al 2015) and underline how network ties contribute to and what they deliver to the process of a focal entrepreneur identifying an international opportunity. Collective opportunity development process involves opportunity conceptualisation, resource mobilisation, and legitimacy building among several firms (Andresen et al 2014)
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