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Why Do Different New Ventures Internationalize Differently? A Cognitive Model Of Entrepreneurs' Internationalization Decisions, David W. Williams

Managerial Sciences Dissertations

What makes entrepreneurs select one international opportunity while rejecting or ignoring others? Furthermore, what makes entrepreneurs decide to exploit an international opportunity earlier or later? Two theories of internationalization provide answers to these questions: the Uppsala Model and International Entrepreneurship theory. However, these two theories provide competing answers to these questions, and empirical research offers inconsistent evidence about what influences entrepreneurs to select an international opportunity – and when to exploit the opportunity. To address these issues, I develop a cognitive model that explains when and why the predictions of these theories do (and do not) explain entrepreneurs’ behavior regarding …