Thesis (doctoral)--University of Lapland, 2003. / Extra t.p. with thesis statement inserted. Includes bibliographical references (p. 328-344).

Background: With the high pace global market development we are experiencing that there is a need for entreprenurs to always be alert and seize opportunities when they appear, espcially in the SME- sector. Researchers have during the years worked with questions surrounding the area of International New Ventures, different opportunity aspects and entreprenurial processes. However there seems to be a gap in the research surrounding the correlation between these related areas and how it effects the opportunity realization process. This gap has lead the researchers to the purpose and the research question stated below. Research question: What is the role of the entrepreneurial process in opportunity realization of Swedish INVs? Purpose: To conduct an exploratory study to further the knowledge within the field of opportunity realization within Swedish INVs and to see the impact that the entrepreneurial process in the shape of Causation and Effectuation logics has in terms of the realization process. Methodology: The researchers worked through an abductive approch with an exploratory purpose where the empirical findings were gathered from four different case companies that operated in different business sectors. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in order to collect primary data, founded in the qualitative method background. Conclusion: The conclusion shows that a correct assessment of the capabilities of the entrepreneur is extremely important. Failing to provide a correct assessment may lead to a misinterpreted opportunity which may lead to a failure in terms of Opportunity realization. The authors concluded that the role of the entreprenerial process is very central in the Opportunity realization process, especially in the beginning of the venture.

Separate essays on entrepreneurship, joint venturing, and trade comprise this thesis. The emergence of entrepreneurship is common in the real world but relatively less so in classical economic models. If industry incumbents are attributed with full rationality and perfect foresight, then there are few, if any, profitable opportunities left for new entrants (entrepreneurs) to exploit. This essay explains how entrepreneurs can emerge in a dynamic world when firms must choose between a technology strategy that is either statically or dynamically efficient. A model is developed which shows how such opportunities for new entry can occur when incumbents are caught in a Prisoners’ Dilemma game involving technology strategy. A relevance measure and policy implications are then explored. Joint ventures, especially of the R&D type, are becoming increasingly important as a way to gain needed technological and market competencies. Unfortunately, many joint ventures have the characteristics of a Prisoners’ Dilemma. Firms may cooperate or defect in the venture. If contracts, side-payments, and third-party verification of the venture outcome are unavailable, then the dominant solution to the Prisoners’ Dilemma (mutual defection) results. This paper proposes the use of an ex-ante auction to obtain a Pareto-improvement for these ventures. A Pareto-improvement is assured when non-transferable costs and benefits of firms are not conditional on joint venture strategies. When this condition is not met restrictions are required to obtain the Pareto-improvement. The problem of trade between countries that share an international open access resource is becoming significant as the world reaches the limits of critical shared resource stocks. It is modelled as a world with one primary factor, two intermediate goods, one final good (harvested from the open access resource), and two nations where it is assumed that either the trading takes place over one stage (nations are price-takers), or two stages (nations have market power). Imperfect competition and open access generated externalities affect the trading efficiency. To maximize world welfare this essay recommends subsidizing R&D where comparative advantage exists, and creating international agreements to ensure the one-stage game structure is used when trading.

Separate essays on entrepreneurship, joint venturing, and trade comprise this thesis. The emergence of entrepreneurship is common in the real world but relatively less so in classical economic models. If industry incumbents are attributed with full rationality and perfect foresight, then there are few, if any, profitable opportunities left for new entrants (entrepreneurs) to exploit. This essay explains how entrepreneurs can emerge in a dynamic world when firms must choose between a technology strategy that is either statically or dynamically efficient. A model is developed which shows how such opportunities for new entry can occur when incumbents are caught in a Prisoners’ Dilemma game involving technology strategy. A relevance measure and policy implications are then explored. Joint ventures, especially of the R&D type, are becoming increasingly important as a way to gain needed technological and market competencies. Unfortunately, many joint ventures have the characteristics of a Prisoners’ Dilemma. Firms may cooperate or defect in the venture. If contracts, side-payments, and third-party verification of the venture outcome are unavailable, then the dominant solution to the Prisoners’ Dilemma (mutual defection) results. This paper proposes the use of an ex-ante auction to obtain a Pareto-improvement for these ventures. A Pareto-improvement is assured when non-transferable costs and benefits of firms are not conditional on joint venture strategies. When this condition is not met restrictions are required to obtain the Pareto-improvement. The problem of trade between countries that share an international open access resource is becoming significant as the world reaches the limits of critical shared resource stocks. It is modelled as a world with one primary factor, two intermediate goods, one final good (harvested from the open access resource), and two nations where it is assumed that either the trading takes place over one stage (nations are price-takers), or two stages (nations have market power). Imperfect competition and open access generated externalities affect the trading efficiency. To maximize world welfare this essay recommends subsidizing R&D where comparative advantage exists, and creating international agreements to ensure the one-stage game structure is used when trading.

The assessment of joint venture appears to be one of the most difficult issues in European competition law. A rational and well-balanced treatment is long awaited. Indeed, the artificial distinction between co-operative and concentrative joint ventures was based on complex and contradictory criteria. The European Commission applied them flexibly at the expense of predictability, damaging the legal certainty that is so necessary for these transactions. The existence of two distinct regimes, one for concentrative and one for co-operative joint ventures, with more favourable treatment for the former, explains why firms wished to subject their transactions to the Merger Regulation rather than article 81 of the Treaty. The reform of the Merger Regulation, which entered into force in 1998, modifies the boundaries between the different types of joint ventures, now focusing on structural criterion. It gives birth to a new distinction between structural and behavioural joint ventures. This simplification of the qualification phase, however, raises new questions relating to the content and the relevance of the chosen criterion. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

The purpose of this thesis is to see how home networks and relationships are involved in the internationalization process of INVs. Therefore we will investigate how INVs are affected and use their home networks/relationships and to reach this purpose we have formulated two research questions:  What roles do relationships and networks on the home market have for Swedish INVs internationalization?  How do Swedish INVs use domestic relationships and their home network when internationalizing? The theoretical framework thus includes INV theory in order to categorize the case companies, networks and relations theory to see if different types of INVs respond differently to their different types of networks and international entrepreneurship theory as a higher theoretical lens to analyse the entrepreneurial behaviour. The methodology is qualitative and has an abductive approach, combined with a multiple case study on six companies which fall under the INV category. We have divided the gathered empirical data and analysed the cases where empirical data will be interpreted with the theoretical framework. The study’s conclusion indicates that INVs use their home networks/relationships as door openers to foreign markets. We then present the theoretical gap we found within the field of research and the theoretical contribution we found as well as suggestions for further research and managerial implications for practicing managers.

Entrepreneurship can be described as the creation of a venture out of nothing, except for an entrepreneur’s idea. No manuals or blueprints for entrepreneurs‘ particular ideas exists. Add to this plenty of adversities along the way. For many, the entrepreneurial journey ends long before their products or services have reached the market. How do entrepreneurs deal with adversities and goal disruptions on the path to venture creation, and what effects does this have on their ventures? This study focuses on the goal disruptions that entrepreneurs experience and builds a model of perceived resistance. The model illustrates how entrepreneurs appraise goal disruptions, choose certain coping strategies, either eventually overcoming the goal disruptions or terminating their venture creation journey. The key issues affecting how novice entrepreneurs cope with goal disruptions are entrepreneurs’ emotions, life life goals, as well as their energetic resources. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2008</p>

This research examines guanxi's influence on attitudes of the Chinese negotiators during international joint venture negotiations by applying the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM). / Before establishing international joint ventures, foreign and Chinese investors go through series of negotiations to settle or resolve any disagreements. However, the unique Chinese culture and the business environment in the transitional China often impose problems on these cross-cultural negotiations. To cope with these difficulties, foreign investors often use “guanxi” as a negotiation strategy to influence the attitude of the Chinese negotiators. / Guanxi is a cultural element inherent in the Confucian ideology. Being a collectivistic, high-contextual and hierarchical society, China places strong emphasis on guanxi between individuals which does not only represent the identification of individuals but is often used as a means to accomplish tasks. This makes guanxi a powerful tool to overcome many cultural and environmental problems. / By applying the influence of guanxi on the attitude of Chinese negotiators to the Elaboration Likelihood Model in this research, it is proposed that guanxi can motivate Chinese negotiators to think and influence the attitude of the Chinese negotiators under high and low elaboration. Under high elaboration, the attitude change is more predictive, stable, enduring and permanent while attitude change under low elaboration is less predictive, vulnerable, susceptible to counter-persuasion and temporary. / The research adopted the quantitative paradigm using hypothesis testing. A survey was carried out with one hundred and fifty-two questionnaires distributed by the snowball sampling technique. Eighty-three completed questionnaires were returned, accounting for 54.6% response rate. Frequency tables were used to analyse the distribution of the results. Chi-square tests were employed to test the representativeness of the samples to the population and the association between variables. / The results indicate that foreign investors' guanxi with the Chinese investors (GFC), the government (GFG) and other businesses (GFO) can motivate the Chinese negotiators to think (MOT) and influence the attitude of the Chinese negotiators to think (MOT) and influence the attitude of the Chinese negotiators under high (VAL) and low elaboration (ATT). GFC can influence VAL because the investors are bound by insider relationships and reciprocal obligations and influence ATT because it implies renqing between the investors. GFG can influence VAL because the government can update the investors with political changes and influence ATT because Chinese show high respect for the government. GFO can influence VAL because the Chinese investors value highly the relationship with the suppliers to secure necessary inputs for production and allow flexible credit payment. GFO can also influence ATT because it implies social validation of trustworthiness of the foreign investors. / This research has significant contributions to the area of study of the Elaboration Likelihood Model, the influences of guanxi on attitude of negotiators and practical suggestions to the Chinese and foreign negotiators who intend to form international joint ventures in China. / Thesis (PhDBusinessandManagement)--University of South Australia, 2006.

Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, Macquarie Graduate School of Management, 2002. / Bibliography: p. A291-A332. / Overview and problem definition -- Theoretical context -- Facets of firm's evaluation of FDI and IJV formation -- Analytical framework and results -- Summary. / This dissertation investigates managerial evaluation of FDI and IJV formation in a developing country. The assessment is likely to be influenced by a country's factor endowments, created assets and policy framework. The efficiencies of the processes relating to decision-making, IJV formation and FDI implementation in a particular country can also impact a firm's evaluation of the country. Further, all the above variables are assessed by a firm in the context of its motives and organisational characteristics. -- After an initial growth period, driven by the country's economic reforms, FDI in India seems to have stagnated at relatively low levels. In addition, the conversion of FDI proposals (approved by Indian authorities) into direct investment in the country remains low. Empirical research on FDI outflows has typically focussed on large economies. A limited industrial base and market size differentiates Australia from these countries. -- This thesis contributes to the understanding of managerial assessment of a potential FDI destination in the context of Australian firms investing in India - a recent phenomenon that has not been previously explored. This research also differentiates itself from other studies in its investigation of FDI-related processes that are virtually overlooked in earlier empirical literature. Earlier empirical studies have explored some of the dimensions affecting a firm's assessment of an FDI location in isolation. Investigating these issues on the same set of sample firms renders the findings of this research more holistic. Through exploring the impact of a firm's organisational context on its assessment of a potential FDI location, this study also addresses the inadequate attention given to a firm's 'operational and strategically-based variables' and to 'managerial' rather than 'market' processes in existing empirical literature on FDI (Dunning, 1988, p. 8; Buckley, 1996, p. 18). At a practical level, this research provides guidance to decision makers in India to improve its FDI appeal. It also identifies the key issues potential investors should consider in making FDI in the country. -- The theoretical base of this research is inter-disciplinary, incorporating explanations for FDI and IJV formation based on economics, behavioural science, organisational learning and strategic perspectives. Multiple perspectives are used in this exploratory study, primarily to extend our knowledge of FDI and IJV-related processes and decisions. The findings are also compared with the expectations of the alternative theoretical frameworks. -- The data for this research was collected from 25 Australian firms that have invested in India already or have FDI proposals approved by Indian authorities during 1993-1998. A questionnaire was completed in personal meetings with CEOs or other senior executives of the firms in the sample. This data collection was supplemented by interviews with these officers from a sub-sample of 16 firms. -- This research finds that Australian firms are primarily driven by the aggressive motive of market growth in the liberalising economy. The overall FDI attractiveness of India's location-specific factors is perceived by firms to be in the significantly attractive class, albeit close to its lower bound. It is inhibited by unfavourable perceptions of the country relating to eleven location-specific factors which are important to a firm's FDI location decision. These factors are categorised into economic/financial (six), political/legal (three) and IJV-related (two). Firms, which have already invested in India, tend to rate the overall attractiveness of these country factors lower than other firms. / The study finds that, despite recent reforms, India's FDI-related policy framework is still perceived as not sufficiently friendly by Australian investors. Unfavourable assessments of the country, relating to eight policy variables, inhibits its overall policy friendliness for FDI. Regulatory controls on FDI are perceived as the most unfriendly feature of India's FDI regime. The study also shows that the scope to improve the friendliness of its policy regime, through building better awareness of the policies among investors, is limited. Thus improvements in policies are needed before the country undertakes extensive promotional efforts of its policies. -- A firm's FDI decision-making process is materially hampered by delays resulting from cumbersome approval requirements and obtaining responses from the country's authorities. Discussions with potential IJV partners are the only source of information that firms find useful relating to FDI in the country. This suggests that improvements may be needed in India's communication strategies. This research also shows that the host country needs to focus separately on improving some of the country's locationspecific factors, policies and FDI processes to improve its appeal to investors. -- The FDI implementation process in the country is significantly hindered by bureaucratic delays within its various agencies. Firms that have already invested in the country emphasise the severity of this hindrance more than other firms. -- Ownership interest of Australian firms in FDI ventures tends to be lower than the host country's regulatory hurdles. The perception that a local partner can add value to the FDI operation is a major reason for forming IJVs. However, large, non-Australian owned, capital-intensive or well-internationalised firms tend to show more confidence in assuming higher ownership in FDI ventures. -- The study also identifies some important effects of the three dimensions of a firm's organisational context - its attributes, internationalisation behaviour and host country experience - on its assessment of FDI and IJV formation in a country. -- More emphasis on aggressive FDI motives, less concerns relating to cultural dissimilarity with the host country, greater expectation of contributions from IJV partners and an inclination to accept lower ownership interest in IJVs tend to differentiate the FDI behaviour of Australian firms from others dealt with in some earlier studies. Having identified, a suitable partner, Australian firms have a positive perception of the IJV formation process in India, with no issues presenting any significant hindrance to FDI. -- The target audience of this study includes potential Australian and other investors in India, policy planners in India and other developing countries and academics involved in FDI and IJV research. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / xli, 556, A332 p., ill

Diss. Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2006.