Antonella Zucchella

• Full professor of Marketing and International Entrepreneurship
• Professor (Full) at University of Pavia

Purpose The purpose of this conceptual paper is to devote special attention to contextualizing and gendering the subject of female informal entrepreneurship as a complex phenomenon. Moreover, it aims to understand the multi-level nature of female informal entrepreneurship, encompassing the context, individual, the firm and the network and its proce...

Despite the crucial role of uncertainty in entrepreneurship and management studies, the characteristics of uncertainty, its relationship with risk, and the sources of uncertainty affecting firms’ activities still require investigation. Extant literature lacks systematization, and concepts like risk and uncertainty are interchangeably used. The issu...

This paper aims to explore the entrepreneurial processes of opportunity development in the context of multi-layered liabilities affecting women of foreign origin and living in Western countries. Europe represents a key destination for growing migration flows and a particularly interesting context for studying the different facets of this highly rel...

This paper aims to explore transnational entrepreneurship, with a particular focus on the processes of exploring and exploiting opportunities across borders for female entrepreneurs in the modest fashion industry. Modest fashion (MF) -conservative and non-revealing clothing- provides an understudied and relevant research context in which it is poss...

Small firms are increasingly exposed to external shocks, like pandemics, inflation surge, global and local conflicts, natural disasters. A common issue is how to address these shocks and how to enable the organization to survive and continue doing business. This study explores responses to crises in some firms along a particularly challenging perio...

Problem-oriented research is increasingly gaining currency in entrepreneurship research. In this article, we respond to the need for more action-based perspectives in entrepreneurship. By employing an inductive research design based on qualitative interviews and participant observations , we discuss empirical evidence about two alternative problem...

This study explores how entrepreneurial firms responded to - and displayed resilience in - coping with the uncertainty generated by an unexpected crisis. We examine how entrepreneurs leveraged slack resources to build organizational resilience and, thanks to their entrepreneurial attitude, could eventually turn adversities into opportunities. Throu...

This article contributes to the studies on the transition towards circular business models in incumbent entrepreneurial firms. The focus of our research is the plastic packaging industry, a paradigmatic case of firms with a high environmental impact who are currently under pressure to change their business models. Following a grounded theory approa...

This paper contributes to uncovering the role of metacognition in the decision-making process of entrepreneurs. Specifically, we analyze nascent entrepreneurs in their process of start-up development while relying on metacognitive processes. The experiences of a sample of new venture initiatives are explored in two distinct phases, a start-up compe...

This research advances the understanding of entrepreneurial decisions in the context of perceived uncertainty related to regional political instability. Using qualitative data from a sample of 29 entrepreneurs, we captured the entrepreneurs’ perceptions of uncertainty and how these perceptions informed their judgement and led to confidence in their...

Purpose The aim of the study is to examine the reciprocal relation between context and emancipatory acts. Context is important in shaping the entrepreneurial action, particularly in a developing region, as it expounds its emancipatory role. At the same time emancipatory acts can affect context as well. Design/methodology/approach The study employs...

The aim of this chapter is to further explore and understand the role of a topic seldom discussed so far in the decision to enter a foreign market for entrepreneurs, namely ignorance. Rather than providing an extensive literature review of the topic, we will explore why entrepreneurship scholars so far neglected the topic of how entrepreneurs, and...

Looking forward to receiving your papers addressing the growing phenomenon of circular entrepreneurship and related circular business models and circular value chains.

By adopting a process approach to entrepreneurial internationalisation, we longitudinally study eleven case firms, discussing entrepreneurial learning as a portfolio of different sources of learning underpinning the exploration and exploitation of international opportunities. First, we identify the most recurring combinations of learning sources: (...

Internationalization, digitalization, and sustainability are three key growth paths for firms. In particular, the contemporary economy stresses the relevance of digital transformation as a central driver towards innovation and business renewal, especially for established small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). However, little is known about the...

Purpose of the paper: By proposing a model of SMEs’ entry in foreign markets characterised by uncertainty, we test the relationships among the implementation of a global niche strategy, the perception of lower competition, and international performance. Methodology: Hypotheses are tested on a sample of 110 Australian firms by applying structural eq...

This contribution discusses the state of the art of research in International Entrepreneurship. In taking stock of three decades of scientific inquiry in the field, this article also looks ahead, pointing at some future research directions. The latter particularly focus on two aspects: the levels of analysis, individual, organizational and inter-or...

The circular economy represents a concrete path towards more sustainable consumption and production modes. It creates value from already existing resources, by extending products’ lifecycle and transforming “waste” into new inputs to be reintroduced in production processes. Shifting from a linear to a circular economic system requires the involveme...

The circular economy challenges business firms to adopt principles of sustainability by closing, narrowing, extending the loop of resources, in order to minimize impact on the planet. Firm embracing circularity principles have to innovate not only products and processes, but primarily models of business. Also they need to include suppliers and cust...

Purpose The purpose of this study is to capture the variation in entrepreneurs' understandings and experiences through which they contextualise cultural factors within a national setting to articulate how they use their knowledge and social capabilities to advance their activity. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts an interpretivist appr...

We investigate the dynamics of outsourcing relationships within global value chains, through six case studies of lead firm-supplier dyads, considering these relationships from the perspectives not only of the lead firms but also of their suppliers. We track the evolution of the relationships by identifying the roles played by heterogeneous resource...

This paper reports a systematic literature review by seeking to discuss research that explored the impact of networks on the entrepreneurial internationalization of international new ventures (INVs). A screening process resulted in a final sample of 73 papers published in 16 double-blind reviewed journals with the highest impact in the field from 1...

The last chapter aims at discussing a general model for circular entrepreneurship, as a context-specific phenomenon. The enabling conditions for the rise and growth of circular enterprises are considered, from internal factors, like resources and capabilities, to external conditions. External conditions refer to an enabling context and institutiona...

The circular economy represents a very promising creative endeavor for entrepreneurs to discover and create novel opportunities, to experiment with new models of doing business and new relationships with partners, customers and employees. This chapter focuses on the role of the business model and business model innovation in the practice of the cir...

Chapters 4 and 5 discuss the empirical evidence from a number of case studies and introduce a distinction between born circular and growing circular firms, with the idea that they can cooperate and benefit from reciprocal cooperation. The firms which are “growing circular” are in a transition towards less impactful activities and towards the adopti...

This original book explores how the principles of circularity, considered a law of nature but neglected within the materialistic orientation of the industrial age, are becoming attractive again in business and society. Investigation reveals enterprises small and large delivering a stimulating message, from changes in entrepreneurial mindsets to the...

The aim of this paper is to highlight the importance of the firm’s strategic objectives regarding the choice of countries for foreign expansion, complementing the existing literature on the internationalisation process. Through a multiple case study methodology, we conduct a comparative analysis of three Brazilian ventures that have internationalis...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore uncertainty-coping strategic actions in the internationalisation strategy of entrepreneurial ventures, encompassing born globals/international new ventures, enduring established internationalisers, old born globals, born-again globals and micro-multinationals. Design/methodology/approach The authors...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize strategic agility in entrepreneurial internationalization and highlight the role of marketing “under particular conditions” – those of early and fast internationalizers. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on in-depth case studies of four entrepreneurial internationalizers using an...

This study examines the relationship between international performance and the orientation of the firm towards trademark acquisition, and discusses family ownership as a moderator of this association. We conceptualize our study along three interrelated lines of ‘openness’ i.e. openness towards external resources, openness of governance, and opennes...

Though much debated worldwide and providing for a myriad of opportunities to extend or reconstruct our knowledge on the modern business organization, international entrepreneurship is extremely modestly represented in the extant Bulgarian literature. Thus, there is a need this knowledge void to be filled, so that we are able to better understand an...

Reaching customers globally and building a global brand and market presence is a demanding task for any firm. For early and rapidly internationalising small firms this is exceptionally challenging due to the restraints that ensue from the liabilities of smallness, newness and foreignness and the speed of their internationalisation. We argue that en...

Our aim is to provide a better understanding of a business model based on circular principles. In particular, we focus on two issues that support the development of a circular business model: (a) the focal actor as orchestrator of the circular network and (b) the circular ecosystem encompassing suppliers, customers, research centers, and public aut...

This contribution addresses a gap in studies about smaller firms’ internationalization. The internationalization process of these ventures has mainly focused on manifest behaviors, neglecting its microfoundations, particularly the complexity of the underlying learning processes. Through a longitudinal multiple case study methodology, we track learn...

In this paper, we address the issue of green innovation by the overseas subsidiaries of multinational corporations (MNCs). Drawing upon stakeholder theory and institutional theory, we propose a conceptual model to explain how stakeholder pressures in host countries prompt MNC subsidiaries to undertake green product and process innovations. Our find...

Standardization versus adaptation of the marketing mix strategy in foreign markets has been one of the key research areas in international marketing since the late 1960s. Based on the existing studies we have a broad understanding of factors having an effect on standardization and adaptation levels, and the implications of the marketing mix on perf...

Innovation has gained growing attention in the strategic management field, and — as a strategic orientation — it has been predominantly considered as a homogenous class of differentiated strategic mindsets. This contribution aims at distinguishing different sub-typologies of innovation strategies and validating their profiles and consistency. It ex...

Purpose This paper aims to provide an assessment of how the widespread adoption of new digital technologies (i.e. the Internet of things, big data and analytics, robotic systems and additive manufacturing) might affect the location and organisation of activities within global value chains (GVCs). Design/methodology/approach The approach in this pa...

Although withdrawal from a foreign market is a quite common decision for internationalized firms in the current competitive environment, it is apparent that this phenomenon has received rather scant attention in academic research. This is one of the few studies in the international marketing area establishing a direct link between market withdrawal...

Purpose The purpose of this paper, according to the evolutionary perspective of resilience, is to provide a revised adaptive cycle model that explains how organisations that are embedded in a local system can foster their resilience. Design/methodology/approach An exploratory case study analysis was carried out. The study adopted the methods and p...

The distinction between domestic and international market activities has an idiosyncratic meaning for international business research. This study examines the significant yet unclear role of domestic market activities for the internationalizing firm through the theoretical lens of exploitation and exploration. By means of five qualitative case stud...

This study provides a theoretical analysis of SME strategic postures and presents empirical evidence of strategic types of international SMEs across three European countries, namely Italy, Finland and Greece. Empirical investigation based on a sample of more than 550 international SMEs is performed through cluster analysis. Findings suggest there a...

Over the past two decades international entrepreneurship has become a key issue in international business studies. This second edition of International Entrepreneurship proposes an integrated framework to enable firms to develop innovative responses to the uncertainties arising from international markets, and to capture the opportunities. © Antonel...

Both entrepreneurship and international business are fields of research that have seen an increasing number of studies during the last few decades. Entrepreneurship and international business are strictly inter-related because entering and venturing into foreign markets are viewed as entrepreneurial activities for the firm (Lumpkin and Dess, 1996;...

Almost 30 years have passed since the “official” birth of international entrepreneurship: along these almost three decades empirical observations and conceptual contributions have developed significantly, making international entrepreneurship one of the most lively and debated fields of research both in international business and in entrepreneurshi...

International entrepreneurship emerged relatively recently in the literature scenery, leveraging a set of parent disciplines. After almost 30 years, this field is still growing and achieving increasing autonomy from its parent streams of research. In this final chapter, we intend to outline the major traits of this discipline, particularly in the p...

International entrepreneurship began emerging as a field of research in the late 1980s with the aim to understand the phenomenon of international new ventures and born global firms, i.e., firms that internationalize early on from inception. Over time, the field has progressively enlarged, extending its scope and positioning at the intersection of e...

Entrepreneurial firms are considered as enterprises led by the entrepreneur-founder or managed by corporate entrepreneurs who have recognized and successfully exploited a business opportunity, assuming risk-taking, innovative, and proactive decisions. This strategy is pursued by means of the entrepreneurial process whereby opportunities, unique res...

This study investigates the interplay of firms' business strategies and their export activities, with a special emphasis on the role of niche strategies in the early and fast internationalisation of new and young ventures. By coupling theoretical arguments with case-based empirical evidence, we offer insights on how the niche strategic pattern can...

PurposeTo provide a theoretical explanation of why outsourcing relationships are inherently dynamic, in that the dependence of each party upon the other inevitably changes over time and thus so too will the power asymmetries between the parties. Methodology/approachOur approach is theoretical and draws upon insights from resource dependence theory,...

This research analyzes the impact of innovation in the internationalization process of small-medium enterprises in traditional Italian industries. Particular attention is paid to the role played by the typologies and sources of innovation in export performance, in order to detect which innovation drivers mostly impact on the export activity of Ital...

This impressive Handbook provides a dynamic perspective on the international entrepreneurial strategies of SMEs, including the role and experience of their founders, as well as the collaboration of these SMEs in networks with larger firms. The expert contributors from all over the world and the editors explore the origin and evolution of internatio...

Nowadays universities are not only active partners in the promotion of cities and regions but become key subjects that decide on growth possibilities in cities and development directions for innovation and entrepreneurship in a given territory. Relationships between cities and universities result in various collaboration models and interactions. Th...

After a first section dedicated to the discussion of the methodological foundations of the image-based research protocols, the chapter introduces the “wall of pictures” protocol. The authors first present the preparation of instrument, the validity check, and the textual data coding process. In the final paragraphs, a large range of descriptive, bi...

The response of firms to sustainable development issues needs to pass through a deep re-thinking of the strategic design, encompassing the entire organization, its functions and re-shaping its business model. This contribution proposes a frame of reference for SD oriented organizations, based on three cornerstones: principles, processes and outcome...

Born global firms have stimulated substantial academic attention as regards their start up but research has neglected their subsequent, ongoing internationalisation. This contribution extends analysis from the inception and childhood to the growth and maturity of such firms. We investigate whether born global are also "born to run" companies; we al...

In the last years, the global economy has undergone a dramatic change. Developed economies face the challenge of new players from emerging countries, slow growth problems, and even recession, combined with a weaker entrepreneurial activity (Amoros and Bosma, 2014). This new economic order calls for a significant reshaping of competition, which leve...

This research analyzes the link between innovation and internationalization in a regional system of small traditional firms in the clothing and textile industry, with special attention given to the role played by the sources of innovation in driving export performance. The study shows a positive relationship between innovation and international gro...

This paper addresses the cognitive dimension of proximity/distance in research collaborations of small biotechnology firms. While the theory of optimal cognitive distance assumes learning as motive of collaborations, we suggest that small specialised firms or sub-units of big diversified organizations tend to collaborate with actors endowed with di...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of two distinct geographic pathways to internationalization for small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). Regional and global pathways are juxtaposed to study the influence on export performance of selected key intangible resources, namely, innovation, human resource management, netw...

This paper investigates how intangible knowledge assets impact upon firm international performance through the analysis of a sample of 290 European listed companies. We draw upon the knowledge-based view of the firm, and argue that more knowledge assets have a positive impact on foreign sales intensity, but only a up to a point. The inverse quadrat...

There is important evidence that Small Knowledge Intensive Firms (SKIFs) have demonstrated some unique characteristics in their internationalisation process. The process takes place earlier in the life of the firm and develops due to the role played by partnerships. The paper analyzes three different SKIFs through a cross case study method. We buil...

New technology-based firms, particularly those that develop their business around a new technological platform, are likely to be impacted by globalization, in terms of both pace of innovation and pressure of competition. For these firms, strategic decisions and growth processes are characterized by a deep inter-relationship amongst the processes of...

This paper identifies different strategic types of internationalised SMEs, in so doing providing managers and entrepreneurs with a much better understanding of the main strategic options and their relationship with the international performance of firms. We provide a theoretical analysis of strategic orientations and strategic behaviour in internat...

This contribution focuses on the process related to the decision of entry into a complex market, as a relevant expression of international entrepreneurial attitude from a small firm. The construct of market complexity has rarely been adopted and explored in the international business literature, even though it may represent a useful complement in t...

At the beginning of the internet era in the 1990s, the hypothesis of a borderless world was put forward and profound changes in international business practices were imagined (for example, Quelch and Klein, 1996; Hamill, 1997). Hamill (1997, p.300) saw the internet as ‘a fundamentally different environment … and new international marketing paradigm...

This paper aims at providing a perspective of innovation processes, long term and real value oriented, and at suggesting a normative model. This TPM model intends to present an appropriate methodological framework, based on systemic analysis, where the diverse functions of the different elements of the system, their interrelations and their interac...

International new ventures or born globals have been studied and discussed broadly as regards their start-up, mainly trying to define and examine some key dimensions of their internationalisation process (i.e. intensity or degree, speed, and scope of internationalisation). The drivers of the phenomenon have been investigated but rarely have they be...

KeywordsNew technology based companies-Internationalization-Innovation-Entreprenuership-Business model

The purpose of this article is to propose a complementary approach to the analysis of tourism systems which is grounded on theoretical frameworks deriving from the fields of dynamic capabilities and destination management. In particular, the paper explores the relationship between the networking approach of tourism firms and the development of tour...

The internationalization process of small firms is subject to a number of constraints and bottlenecks. Academics and research institutions have devoted special attention to the issue of barriers to exporting for SMEs. Studies on export barriers for SMEs have been usually approached from the perspective of the firm, but they have rarely taken into c...

Global entrepreneurship defines the orientation of the firms in the direction of growing interdependence and integration. On the contrary international entrepreneurship is just a combination of innovative, proactive, and risk seeking behaviour that crosses national borders and is intended to create value in organizations. In global markets, the st...

Although born globals (BGs) have now been studied for over a decade, theory and practice are still evolving. This article was written to clarify the definition of a Born Global (BG) firm and to describe the three phases--introductory, growth and resource accumulation, and break-out to independent growth as a major player--through which BGs progress...

The ‘Born Globals’ (BGs) have now been studied for over a decade and yet the conceptualizations and theory development are at an initial phase. This article was written to clarify the definition of a BG firm, and focus on its characteristics. BGs deviate considerably when contrasted with traditional internationalizing Small to Medium-Size...