Sheds light on the process leading to new enterprise formation and identifies the impact of some selected demographic variables on business start‐ups. In contrast to traditional research methodologies, this study used a new and more comprehensive approach to survey entrepreneurial intention. It studied both those who actually set up a new business and those “nascent entrepreneurs” who abandoned their idea prior to trading. The findings of an empirical analysis of 93 such entrepreneurs are presented. Using multivariate techniques to analyse the data, the importance of three demographic variables ‐ gender, previous government employment and recent redundancy ‐ was identified as having potential negative influences on small business formation, and comparisons are made with past studies.

We expand the institutional perspective of international business by exploring the range of institutions outside the host country that influence international business. We use a critical case, Myanmar, to explore the dynamics of institutional constraints and the reaction of business to such constraints. Our in-depth case analysis focuses on four industries for the period 1996 to 2011. On this basis, we develop the concept of 'low profile strategy' and propose a conceptual framework of home country pressures influencing multinational enterprises' international operation, and the variation of their impact across industries and firms. This framework provides a foundation for future work on the extraterritorial effects of institutions in international business.

This paper sheds light on the process leading to new enterprise formation while identifying the triggers and barriers to business start-ups. A new approach was used in this study to focus on the pre-decision stage, i.e. the intention and characteristics of nascent entrepreneurs. In addition to the "usual" triggers to start-up, this study has highlighted a more intriguing one: the will to invest savings in a business venture which will provide the investor with a job and the satisfaction of being rewarded on merits. The results suggest that this trigger matches the profile of mid-career professionals who want to become self-employed. Underlying barriers include the lack of resources, compliance costs, and the hard reality of "going into business".

Privatisation is contentious but in Myanmar it has not so much been its merits or drawbacks that have attracted attention as questions around implementation. In Myanmar, the implementation of privatisation has broad significance for the political economy. A first phase of privatisation was focused on small to medium-sized enterprises and did not have a significant economic impact. A second phase, commenced in 2008, consolidated the interests of a business elite with personal connections to the military regime. The impact of this second phase of privatisation was such that some elements of this elite strengthened to the extent that they no longer relied entirely on patronage, creating opportunities for diversification in their strategies of wealth creation and defence. For this reason, it is argued, the wealthiest strata of Myanmar's business elite is now best conceived as not simply consisting of cronies but rather as a nascent form of oligarchy. In theoretical terms, this suggests that greater attention to the qualitative difference between cronyism and oligarchy is warranted, as is close study of processes-like privatisation and political reform-that enable or require a wider range of strategies of wealth defence.

We expand the institutional perspective of international business by exploring the range of institutions outside the host country that influence international business. We use a critical case, Myanmar, to explore the dynamics of institutional constraints and the reaction of business to such constraints. Our in-depth case analysis focuses on four industries for the period 1996 to 2011. On this basis, we develop the concept of 'low profile strategy' and propose a conceptual framework of home country pressures influencing multinational enterprises' international operation, and the variation of their impact across industries and firms. This framework provides a foundation for future work on the extraterritorial effects of institutions in international business.