This article was written with Susanne Gretzinger, Anna Marie Dyhr Ulrich and Svend Hollensen and published in 2020 in "Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing" (ABS JG 2021 2-stars). The paper discusses business incubation to enter foreign markets in Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) countries through the lens of the concept of an “international business incubator” (IBI). An illustrative, and theory-led, case study is presented that describes market expansion to BRIC countries through a network-based IBI. The empirical case is an illustrative Danish company with international operations in BRIC countries both with and without an IBI.
Key findings: International business incubation represents a process, which can be influenced through an IBI, and business networking during foreign market entry is shaped by IBI brokerage (bridging, bonding and protecting) in different phases. IBI activities that are embedded in business networking support a company’s endeavours in getting a foothold and acquiring a strategic position in BRIC markets and facilitates the market penetration.
The book chapter, published in 2023 with Irina Nikolskaja Roddvik and Runar Gundersen, illustrates the role that an entrepreneurial decision-making approach had played for the international expansion of an incumbent large state-owned enterprise after its initial internationalisation. The case study highlights aspects of entrepreneurial decision-making, internal organisational changes and the influence of individual managers within the executive management team. The chapter unveils the complexities of internal decision-making processes, including the struggles between individual managers, and thereby provides a better understanding for management practitioners about decision-making for competitiveness and growth during the internationalisation of large, yet inexperienced enterprises.
Another book chapter, published in 2022 with Irina Nikolskaja Roddvik, studies managerial behaviour concerning the internationalisation of SMEs in emerging markets through the lens of two related phenomena: the “illusion of control” and the “deprivation of control.” The chapter takes inspiration from management control literature, which points to existing tensions in the behavioural patterns shown by managers during organisational processes. We adapt ideas from the management control literature to an international entrepreneurship context with a focus on SME entrepreneurs and their practices in an emerging market. The chapter is based on a case study from Norwegian SMEs with long-standing international operations in Russia.
This paper, published in 2022 with Irina Nikolskaja Roddvik and Viktor Roddvik, presents the historical case of Norwegian transnational entrepreneurs (1880s–1930s) and the ecosystems that they founded in Russia’s Arctic periphery. Drawing from the contemporary transnational entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial ecosystem literature, and inspired by AnnaLee Saxenian’s concept of “brain circulation,” the historical case study explores the journey and impact of the Norwegian entrepreneurs in a time of evolving political turbulence in the foreign market. As a key finding, the entrepreneurs were both “pulled” by and “pushed” to the Russian region, their “New America,” where they could apply their personal skills and exploit their rich social and financial capital to establish a local entrepreneurial ecosystem. However, radical political change altered the context, which led many of them to re-migrate to Norway.
The article was published in "Journal of Management History".
(Publication in German language, 2012)
Für westeuropäische Unternehmen im Allgemeinen und für westeuropäische kleine und mittlere Unternehmen (KMU) im Besonderen bildete die politische und wirtschaftliche Marktöffnung in Mittel- und Osteuropa (MOE) zu Beginn der 1990er Jahre einen wichtigen Anlass, ihre Aktivitäten in der Großregion MOE zu verstärken. Das Ziel der Studie ist es, die Spezifika des Markteintritts, die Rolle von Barrieren beim Markteintritt und im Verlauf der Internationalisierung sowie mögliche Standorteffekte zu analysieren. Die Studie basiert auf Fallstudien in KMU mit Sitz in Niedersachsen, die bereits Märkte in MOE erschlossen haben. Den theoretisch-konzeptionellen Hintergrund bilden zwei gängige Modelle der Internationalisierung: das Prozessmodell und der Netzwerkansatz. Als Ergebnis zeigt sich, dass beide Modelle den Internationalisierungsverlauf der betrachteten Unternehmen nur unzureichend beschreiben. Vielmehr beeinflusst ein Mix unterschiedlicher Faktoren den Markteintritt wie die Marktbearbeitung im Zeitverlauf. Als Tendenz ist gleichwohl feststellbar, dass sich die Bedeutung von Barrieren beim Markteintritt in MOE seit dem EU-Beitritt vieler MOE-Länder abgeschwächt hat.
Cite as: Leick, B.; Leßmann, G.; Nussbaum, J. (2012): - Internationalisierungspfade mittelständischer Unternehmen in Osteuropa - Internationalisierungsprozess und Standorteffekte am Beispiel niedersächsischer KMU, in: IfM Bonn (Hrsg.): IfM-Materialien Nr. 218, Bonn.