International entrepreneurship: Insights from Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

The discipline of International Entrepreneurship (IE) conceptually rests upon the foundations of entrepreneurship and international business - with theory typically derived from larger corporations and mature markets. Through comparison between IE in emerging and mature contexts, and individual and corporate entrepreneurship, distinctive features of individual IE in emerging markets are identified. A series of case studies conducted in Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam document how incremental innovation underpins IE; how foreignness helps IEs spot opportunities (unrecognized by locals); how simple bureaucracies (commonly found in emerging markets) invigorate IE; how startups in emerging environments embody assimilation (larger international corporations cannot match) - and how this assimilation (combined with being small and nimble) enables IEs to thrive within ambiguity and institutional voids. Most importantly, this study challenges the applicability of institutional and transaction cost theory to explain market entry modes of individual IEs in emerging markets. Contrary to conventional wisdom, institutional voids were not found to deter these IEs. Rather, these IEs' primary concerns relate to pro-business dispositions among authorities, simple bureaucracies, and uncomplicated investment climates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]