Entrepreneurial characteristics and internationalisation of new ventures: a study of cognitive factors

Abstract

Researchers (Acedo and Jones, 2007; Acedo and Florin, 2006b; Zahra et al., 2005) have argued that the impact of entrepreneur’s cognition in international new ventures (INV) has been an under-researched area though it has been studied in the field of entrepreneurship. This paper tries to study impact of various cognitive factors, attitude, tolerance for ambiguity, proactivity, intuition and international orientation, on speed of internationalisation in new ventures. Primary data was collected from 149 French and 98 Indian SMEs. The results showed decision makers’ attitude towards internationalisation affect firm’s early internationalisation, it was found positive in India while negative in France. Interestingly decision makers with high intuition were found first to focus on domestic markets and later enter into international markets. International orientation is very important for early internationalisation in new ventures in France. Copyright © 2021 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.