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ABSTRACT
Objective: The objective of this paper is to determine and analyse the framework conditions that influence the entrepreneurial opportunity identification and action in the international market context._
Research Design & Methods: Scholars from the International Business and International Entrepreneurship (IE) research fields agree that the process of internationalisation is triggered by opportunity identification. The extant literature is reviewed by assessing the framework conditions that domestic and international markets offer for entrepreneurial actions. An analytical juxtaposition of the influential factors is conducted in the light of various stages of the opportunity identification process by examining - at each stage - possible effects of domeslc and international market context._
Findings: This paper brings into the IE discussion a conceptual matrix of various elements and factors - external condilons - which influence the creation of nexus by entrepreneurs to the markets._
Implications & Recommendations: The conceptual matrix offers new insights for theoretical development and arguments for designing empirical research in terms of external conditions. It is expected to provoke more theoretical and practical questions from scholars within the IE field._
Contribution & Value Added: The originality of this work lies in proposing a comprehensive framework to understand how context interacts with the entrepreneurial opportunity identification process._
Article type: conceptual paper
Keywords: international entrepreneurial opportunity process; market context
JEL codes: F23, M16_
Received: 17 March 2017 Revised: 26 June 2017 Accepted: 14 July 2017
INTRODUCTION
The theory and practice of international business (IB) and entrepreneurship recognise the critical role of the entrepreneur in the successful internationalisation of the firm (McMullen & Dimov, 2013; Oyson & Whittaker, 2015). These domains have been theoretically and methodologically integrated by forming the field of international entrepreneurship (IE) (Allen, 2016; McDougall & Oviatt, 2000). Authors in the IE field have widely researched the entrepreneur's pursuit of conducting cross-border activities and competing in markets (Schweizer, Vahlne, & Johanson, 2010). In this regard, entrepreneurial action fosters cross-border activities by combining individual as well as firm-level capabilities. IB and IE fields agree that the process of internationalisation is triggered by the entrepreneurial opportunity process, which is also the starting point and the core of the conceptualisation of entrepreneurship (Shane & Venkataraman, 2000).
The concept of opportunity identification in international entrepreneurship has generally focused on the...