Entrepreneurial Orientation: International, Global and Cross-cultural Research – Critical Analysis

Critical Analysis Instructions: International Business Strategies and Foreign Market Penetration

Locate and critically analyse a recent article on a topic concerning international business strategies and foreign market penetration.In preparing your business article critique you should:

  1. Provide a brief discussion of the article and point out the three most important issues contained within the article. Do not simply summarise.
  2. Point out the underlying theoretical concepts which are relevant to the article
  3. Point out the related policy issues (e.g. what government policy is or should be) and debate around the issue.
  4. Provide a critique if the article contains discrepancies/ ignores important policy problems or issues, or is inconsistent with economic or other theories studied in this unit.

Wales, W, Gupta, V.K, Marino, L & Shirokova, G 2018, ‘Entrepreneurial orientation: International, global and cross-cultural research’, International Small Business Journal; Researching Entrepreneurship, vol.37, no.2, pp.95-104. – Article Critique

Brief Article discussion Pointing Out Three most Important Issues

This article focuses on entrepreneurial orientation (EO) in a global environment. The paper aims at improving knowledge on EO and its application in cross-cultural and international context. The authors of the article try to demonstrate the need for change in the original entrepreneurial framework that focused on business operations in America, to a new design that can fit in other upcoming market environments that include Asia. The article features a number of important aspects surrounding EO. One of these important aspects is the review of the dominant design of the EO which was invented by researchers around 30 years ago, and which acts as the basic design of EO. The dominant design according to the article plays a great role in determining whether a business can be regarded as an entrepreneurial or not.  The article posits that the EO of an organization is characterized by three dimensions that include risk-taking, pro-activeness and innovation. In case any of the three dimensions are absent entirely, an organization would not be recognized as an entrepreneurial. The article appreciates the acceptance of dominant design by acknowledging its extensive use by researchers in the past. The authors however point out that the dominant design which was tested in the developed economy may not fit very well in emerging economies that have different characteristics.

Another important issue addressed in this article is conceptualization of the dominant design to fit the characteristics of emerging economies with diverse sociocultural features. According to the authors, various concepts developed initially in mature market are challenged when used in emerging markets. Thus, further adaptation and consideration may be needed in the dominant design to fit the new business environments. Researchers have also demonstrated the likelihood that EO most suitable conception in other cultures might include aspects which are regarded important or desirable in those cultures. Thus, EO may need to be restructured to fit the characteristics of different cultures in different emerging economies, to create an international perspective in EO. The article authors reviews various ways in which the dominant design can be revised to create international EO. Most of researchers propose additional of new dimensions in the current dominant design to create a multicultural or international EO. The new proposed dimensions capture differences in the means in which different organizations might pursue or support international entry. The two added dimensions include autonomy which is used as a strategic posture, and competitive aggressiveness.

The third important aspect in the article is the review researches conducted on entrepreneurial orientation in the context of international SME. The reviewed article demonstrates how EO drives performance of internalization by regarding the experiential learning role in developing networking and contextual intelligence as an important strategy through which company gain complementary resources to utilize opportunities. This section provides practical or real situational analysis of how OE internalization can be handed to ensure success.  

Underlying Theoretical Concepts Relevant to the Article

This paper focuses on entrepreneurial orientation in an international market. Thus the theoretical concepts relevant to the article may include global business environment, where different business culture are reviewed based on the regions. For instance, American business environment vary greatly from Asians business environment. The two regions adopt different business cultures that make them unique in different ways. Understanding business aspects valued by different people in different cultures or environment may provide a better understanding of the international business market and how one can adjust into operating in different market. Another theoretical concept suitable for this article is organizational factors for multinational organizations. Multinational organizations operate in different countries where they experience different challenges. More information on external and internal factors of multinational business operation may be considerably important in this case. This should especially focus on government influence on business. Foreign business environment is also likely to be influenced by the government through foreign business operation policies. This may influence the business environment in different foreign nations. More theoretical information on government-business relation in a foreign environment may be highly important. In addition, information on business internal factors that assist in the adaptation of international organization in a new business environment will provide a better understanding of what may be needed to ensure effective conceptualization of EO to fit an international operational level.

Related Policies

Internalization of entrepreneurial orientation can be influenced by a number of policies government policies. These include policies that the government employs to promote or block foreign investment or to protect local SME from international competition. Licensing policy in a country dictates on aspects that local and foreign entrepreneurs should fulfil to be permitted to operate in a country. Other policies include business tariffs in a foreign country among other policies that define rules to be fulfilled before licensing. These policies increase the expenses incurred in a foreign entrepreneurial investment, and hence influencing the level of risk taking in international entrepreneurial orientation. If the level of risk is manageable, the organization opts to continue with its foreign investment but if unbearable, then it may opt out. Another policy related to this article includes environmental policies that mostly dictate the operational process of entrepreneurial operations, especially in the manufacturing industry. Policies governing the rate of carbon emission and demanding green production may push the aspect of innovation much harder for an organization originating from a country where such policies are not there.    

Article Critique The article centres more interaction between organizations in an international market. It is in a way focus on what an entrepreneur should work on to be able to fit in a foreign market and to effectively compete with other similar businesses in international environment. Entrepreneurial orientation in this article focuses on internal measures or dimensions that an organization may need to adjust on or work on to fit in a foreign market. Having been initially design for one form of economy, the design does not consider external factors that may influence business, despite being structured in a manner that it would work effectively without external forces. The article highly disregards how government policies can influence business orientation in a foreign market. The only external aspect emphasized in this design is cultural variation. Government policies can be a major determining factor to the success of foreign business in a country. Ignoring this aspect may results to the development of a shaky model that can easily fail if subjected to an environment with tough governmental regulations targeting foreign investors. The new international EO dimensions also fail to consider the political environment in a foreign country. An entrepreneur may be able to handle internal environment to ensure success. However, External business environment particularly political and economic climate may result to more challenges and maybe failure. The article fails to consider those aspects in the new international EO design. 

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