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The subject of this thesis is the management of foreign operations and the switching of modes for international business. Contrary to research on the market entry, the focus here lies on the further development of the initially selected market entry strategy and the question of identifying the right timing and optimal approach for changing strategies (strategy change). Based on a comprehensive review of literature on internationalisation and mode switching, a theoretical concept for decision-making behaviour during a switch is formulated. The hypotheses derived from this are empirically assessed through interviews with top managers and alarge-scale survey of 192 companies (51 % switchers; 49% nonswitchers). Here, the companies surveyed can be classified into five characteristic groups based on the preferred mode, corporate characteristics, timing of the mode decision and mode-switching probability. The results show that the mode switch is an important option for improving performance in foreign markets. Satisfaction with current performance of foreign operation is the main driver for or against the mode switch. When a firm makes the decision to switch modes, it is shown that, through the mode switch, success in the foreign market is significantly improved. Yet the switch is not in itself a prerequisite for success. The study shows that both switchers and non-switchers can be successful. The results also reinforce the assumed relationship between management style and the probability of a mode switch. Clear causal relationships are identified between systematic internationalisation planning and success. In addition, the dwelling time after market entry is shown to be critical; for example, it is established that the mode of "importers" is usually tied to a longer stay in a market than as with other mode strategies. This indicates apath-dependency with certain modes. This study shows that, over the duration of foreign business activity, companies pursue characteristic internationalisation pathways through their choice of mode. With regard to timing in the decision-making process, the conclusion is reached that there should be sufficient time and space for the development, negotiation and evaluation in the sense of using a co-evolutionary perspective. Timing is viewed as a result emerging from co-evolution of internationalisation activities, corporate characteristics, mode strategy, management style and industry influences. Areas for further research are identified and recommendations on how to improve decision making in the management of foreign operation are provided. The study concludes with an explanatory theory on mode switching, based on the theory of pathway dependency.

This thesis explores the enabling conditions and challenges two entrepreneurs interpret critical in their relationships in the start-up phase of 5i, a social entrepreneurial international new venture (INV). The thesis delivers both interpretive ethnographic and auto-ethnographic accounts, weaving the voices of the two co-founders of 5i into a textual dialogue. The reader explores the relationship between the two entrepreneurs, and their relationships with their network partners, as they develop 5i into a small, innovative social entrepreneurial consulting practice that delivers innovative business incubation and financial engineering services from the firm's home base in New Delhi, India into rural markets in Brazil and China, as well as into the company's home market in India. The two entrepreneurs put to use their team and network relationships to mobilize knowledge, know-how, and capital; marshalling resources for their firm far beyond those they control. However, the entrepreneurs' relationships deliver more than functional, resource-based benefits. It is the, shared mission-related values, and the trust and the open communications they engender, in the entrepreneurs' relationships that emerge as key enabling conditions in the development of 5i. When mission-related values are not shared, significant challenges are confronted. The research presented in this thesis emphasizes interpretation and understanding grounded in the formation processes in a new enterprise, there where it is happening, not in rational explanation and prediction. Messy, thick, interpretive ethnographic and auto ethnographic texts provide rich detail which is then provoked through engagement with interpretive grounded theory methods to offer three pragmatic theoretical threads that contribute to our understanding of the roles of TMT and network relationships in the creation of social enterprises that move across international borders from birth. This combination of interpretive methods will not meet the positivist cry for testable hypothesis and universal theories, but it is hoped these methods deliver a compelling, local story. This thesis works to bring the voice of the entrepreneur back into research on entrepreneurship.