Entrepreneurs and internationalization: A study of Western immigrants in an emerging market

Joyce E.H. McHenry and Denice E. Welch

International Business Review, 2018, vol. 27, issue 1, 93-101

Abstract: Our interview-based study began as an investigation of Westerners residing in Vietnam. Our sample fell into three groups: local expatriates, expatriate entrepreneurs, and hybrids (those who worked for a multinational while owning a local company). Based on this finding, we re-examined the data to explore expatriates as employers. Two themes emerged. The first revealed expatriate entrepreneurs and hybrids as active market players who were competitors for local talent and/or potential local distributors or partners in Vietnam. The second theme indicated a parallel process: the internationalization of firms entering a foreign market and the internationalization of individuals entering that same market. Our contribution is the opening of the ‘homogeneous’ black box of Western immigrants and the expansion of the concept of the expatriate entrepreneur, thus reinserting the role of the individual in the process of firm internationalization.

Keywords: Expatriate entrepreneurs; Internationalization process; Immigrants; Local expatriates; Local talent; Host country employees; Foreign agents; Foreign partners (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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DOI: 10.1016/j.ibusrev.2017.05.008

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