eThesis - School of Business electronic theses

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The goal of this thesis is to analyse the entrepreneurial opportunity process under the influence of the entrepreneurial internationalisation process. The model of Ardichvili et al. (2003) is chosen as the basis of the frame of reference. In detail, it is the aim to analyse how the structure or the core process of the entrepreneurial opportunity process is affected by the influence of internationalisation activities of a firm. Further, it is the target to research the diverse factors that influence the entrepreneurial opportunity process, as defined by Ardichvili et al. (2003), as well as research whether and which additional influencing factors have to be added to the entrepreneurial opportunity model, if combined with the entrepreneurial internationalisation process.

The empirical study of this thesis is conducted along a single case study approach, analysing the case of Management Events Oy, a Finnish business to business (B2B) invitation only event organiser that has undergone a strong growth and internationalisation process during the last years. The case study is conducted on the basis of the interviews with the founder, Mr Muurainen, as well as the current CEO, Mr Hilvo, written materials that have been published in regards to diverse financial and organisational numbers, as well as the experience and observation of the author of this thesis as an employee of Management Events Oy.

Final results indicate that the basis structure of the model of Ardichvili et al. (2003) alsohas its validity if the entrepreneurial opportunity process is combined with the entrepreneurial internationalisation process. However, diverse adaptations are suggested: regarding the core process, it is proposed that the opportunity evaluation and development process should be seen as one unit, consisting out of two segments, as these two processes are not linear and often interlinked. Further, the influencing factors of the entrepreneur are suggested to have the biggest impact on the opportunity recognition process, whereas during the opportunity evaluation and development process, additional influencing factors are having a major impact, such as diverse external factors, company internal factors, as well as an international management team that is added during the process of internationalisation. For the purpose of these suggestions, an adapted model of Ardichvili et al. (2003) is presented and it is suggested that future research is needed for its validation.