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Effectuation and Networking of Internationalizing SMEs

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Abstract

This paper explores previously discarded phenomena in the internationalization process literature, namely the non-predictive logic of foreign market entry, and employs effectuation theory to examine how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) network during internationalization. It integrates effectuation theory with the revisited Uppsala internationalization process model to understand the unintentional aspect of networking by internationalizing SMEs. The research design is a multiple-case study approach. The findings show how entrepreneurs network with interested partners, instead of carefully selecting international partners according to predefined network goals. Entrepreneurs who network effectually enter markets wherever an opportunity emerges, and commit to network relations that increase their means. Network relations become an integrating point for effectuation theory from entrepreneurship research and the revised Uppsala model from international business. This bridge between the two areas suggests some implications for network research in International Entrepreneurship.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Jan Johanson, Jan-Erik Vahlne, Saras Sarasvathy, Benjamin Oviatt, Patricia McDougall, Cecilia Pahlberg, Igor Kalinic, Tuija Mainela, Vesa Puhakka and Anita Juho for their comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript. Special gratitude goes to Alex Frost from Comword and Charles Campbell for checking the language in this paper.

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  1. Hanken School of Economics, Management and Organization, Vaasa, Finland

    Tamara Galkina

  2. Centre for Entrepreneurship, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

    Sylvie Chetty

  3. Research Associate Department of Business Studies, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

    Sylvie Chetty

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  1. Tamara Galkina
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Correspondence to Tamara Galkina.

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Galkina, T., Chetty, S. Effectuation and Networking of Internationalizing SMEs. Manag Int Rev 55, 647–676 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11575-015-0251-x

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