The Impact of Resources on International Entrepreneurship: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

We study how resources affect the entrepreneurial process in an international business context.  Due to the transformation of many start-ups into multinational enterprises, it is important to understand how such internationalization transpires.  Accordingly, our study focuses on the impact of resources on entrepreneurs' ability to identify, appraise and take advantage of opportunities that lead to internationalization.  This is accomplished by drawing on and synthesizing the resource-based view with opportunity-based theory.  Furthermore, the under-researched international entrepreneurship literature provides a clear knowledge gap, hence the study is exploratory.  Through interviewing eight international entrepreneurs operating in diverse industries, we gain comprehensive insights and experiences vis-à-vis resource impact on internationalization.  Our empirical findings show that resources influence each stage of the international entrepreneurial action process in different ways.  An important conclusion is that social capital in the form of networks and partnerships are critical to entrepreneurs pursuing internationalization.  In line with international business and entrepreneurship literature, such third party resources aid in the discovery of opportunities and provision of information.  Furthermore, they alleviate resource constraints and provide entrepreneurs with better understanding of foreign markets.  Given these findings, we suggest that entrepreneurs and managers pursuing internationalization should actively increase their networking capabilities and enter apposite global partnerships.