With a dearth of research on international entrepreneurship pedagogy, there is a gap in knowledge on the effectiveness of educational programs, courses, and teaching methods in stimulating and promoting international entrepreneurship practice. To address the gap, this study evaluates an experiential teaching innovation in the area of international entrepreneurship, the Global Board Game project. Designed as a Community of Practice (CoP), the project provides students the opportunity to participate in the construction of their knowledge through interactions with their counterparts in other countries. A qualitative analysis of student essays indicates that the Global Board Game project is effective in helping students achieve learning outcomes, which include defining, recognizing, and evaluating international business opportunities; designing and validating a business model based on such opportunities; and creating a plan for pursuing these opportunities. Additionally, it indicates that participation in the project enhanced students’ attitudes toward entrepreneurship as a career path.
PurposeThis paper investigates how entrepreneurs in an emerging economy in Latin America bundle resources to develop capabilities related to entering new markets whilst creating value for their firms. In particular, the paper explores how individual resources (experiential knowledge and social networks) impact on entrepreneurs' capabilities to exploit new market opportunities.Design/methodology/approachThe paper employs a case study approach to investigate five cases of entrepreneurs driving technology-based businesses in Brazil. Effectuation theory is used as a lens to ascertain how resources impact on the decision-making capabilities of the entrepreneurs and firms. The research adopts a longitudinal approach, capturing data from thirty interviewees over a period corresponding to domestic and international market entry of these TechnoLatinas ' businesses.FindingsThis paper builds on previous resource-based view (RBV) studies by supplementing evidence that individual and firm-level resources determine the development of capabilities to exploit new market opportunities for new firms. The presence of experiential knowledge (in particular, business planning, market analysis and experimentation) and social networks (individual resources) drives to a mix of causal and effectual heuristics; however, in the presence of firm-level resources (human and financial capital), new entrepreneurs tend to shift towards a stronger causal orientation.Research limitations/implicationsThe case companies are high technology, knowledge-intensive Brazilian start-up firms sharing a similar institutional setting. Further research should include a more diverse range of cases including other sectors and other countries in Latin America adopting quantitative design to confirm and generalise these findings.Practical implicationsFor policymakers and practitioners, this research provides guidelines on how entrepreneurs' know-how and social networks can be enhanced by providing access to the international market to speed up the growth of a new firm. For entrepreneurship educators, this research explains how effectual orientation (EO) or causal orientation (CO) influences the entrepreneur to exploit the available resources to maximise the growth of businesses in the international market.Originality/valueThe resource-based literature usually ignores the challenges faced by new resource-constrained firms and the individual-level resources of the entrepreneurs. This research contributes to the RBV, entrepreneurship and internationalisation debate by identifying the interplay between RBV and effectuation theory, particularly by bringing forward the impact of individual resources and capabilities of entrepreneurs to make the decision to enter a new market. Moreover, by using the effectuation theory, the research contributes to a better understanding of how resources are managed to create value and growth in new firms.
This chapter explores how the recognition of opportunities regarding developing technology and entering a new market is influenced by the systemic effect of social forces. These include institutions, social networks and the entrepreneur's cognitive frames. This study adopts a longitudinal perspective by capturing and analysing the phenomenon in two moments: first, when the businesses started to operate domestically and second, when they began to internationalise. The cases of five Brazilian technology firms are analysed. The findings reveal the systemic and mutually reinforcing effect of these social forces on the recognition of opportunities. The entrepreneurs' cognitive frames were particularly vital in recognising opportunities to enter the Brazilian market. The institutional support provided by universities along with government mechanisms and entrepreneurs' social networks were essential to accrue experiential and nonexperiential knowledge of international markets, therefore contributing to the recognition of international opportunities. The temporal perspective employed in this research assists the understanding of how historical events shape entrepreneurs' capabilities to recognise and change company discourse to pursue the recognition of international opportunities. The results provide guidelines for researchers, practitioners and policy-makers, particularly in the emerging
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