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A corporate entrepreneurship perspective of pre‐entry strategies for internationalization: A case study of a Chinese business conglomerate
Author(s) -
Zhang Mingqiong M.,
Zhu Cherrie J.,
De Cieri Helen,
Dowling Peter J.,
Chen Zhenxiong
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
thunderbird international business review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.553
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1520-6874
pISSN - 1096-4762
DOI - 10.1002/tie.22030
Subject(s) - internationalization , emerging markets , international business , leverage (statistics) , entrepreneurship , business , china , perspective (graphical) , phenomenon , industrial organization , marketing , economic geography , international trade , management , economics , political science , finance , physics , quantum mechanics , machine learning , artificial intelligence , computer science , law
The international expansion of Chinese firms is a remarkable phenomenon of contemporary international business. However, international expansion is particularly challenging for firms expanding from emerging market economies such as China because they have relatively few ownership advantages and suffer disadvantages. We apply a corporate entrepreneurship perspective to explore this under‐researched topic via a longitudinal case study of a large Chinese business conglomerate. Thirty‐one semistructured interviews and seven focus‐group discussions were conducted with 55 informants; company documents were also analyzed. We found sophisticated pre‐entry entrepreneurial initiatives are critical for successful internationalization, as they enable emerging market firms to overcome some constraints, leverage their assets, and build competences for international venturing.