Venturing Abroad by Emerging Market Enterprises: A Test of Dual Strategic Intents

Abstract

This study presents a dual strategic intent perspective, elucidating that international venturing by emerging economy private firms is prompted by exploiting firm-specific advantages, as well as circumventing market imperfection residuals embedded in home country economic transformation. • Our analysis of 1,355 Chinese private enterprises shows that their ownership-specific advantages in areas such as corporate governance, inherited advantage from mergers and acquisitions of state-owned companies, and inward internationalization increase the level of outward internationalization. Market imperfection residuals, such as industry structure uncertainty, also propel the inclination for internationalization. • Two types of international experiences, one possessed by entrepreneurs and the other by private firms they lead, are positively associated with the proclivity for international venturing. Their moderating effect on the link between some ownership-specific advantages and venturing is negative, suggesting a substitutive role of experience in interacting with ownership-specific advantages with the process of internationalization.