Purpose

This study aims to examine the international market selection process of entrepreneurs operating internationally.

Design/methodology/approach

Four small and medium-sized comparative and rich-information case studies were purposefully selected from among Australian and Arabian firms. Data were collected via in-depth personal interviews, follow-up interviews and questionnaire instrument.

Findings

The results revealed that entrepreneurs used a four-stage systematic decision-making process to attain profitable foreign market choices. The decision process was influenced by cognitive boundaries as entrepreneurs relied on the availability experiential, anchoring and adjustment heuristic.

Research limitations/implications

The research’s findings and the proposed decision model will, significantly, assist entrepreneurs, willing to expand internationally, in enhancing their decision-making to attain profitable foreign market choices. Further, it provides benefits to foreign investment policymakers in host countries by assisting them to attract more inward foreign direct investments, and, accordingly, enhance the economic and social development movement in their countries.

Originality/value

This study provides a significant theoretical contribution to the literature on the internationalization process of entrepreneurs and small- and medium-sized enterprises through developing a decision model for selecting and entering foreign markets by entrepreneurs in a cross-country context. Further, the study provides significant methodological contributions with regard to the effectiveness of the qualitative case study method in capturing elements of the foreign market selection process.

中文翻译：

---

企业家国际市场选择的决策模型：跨国调查

目的

本研究旨在考察国际经营企业家的国际市场选择过程。

设计/方法论/途径

特意从澳大利亚和阿拉伯企业中挑选了四个信息丰富的中小型比较案例研究。通过深入的个人访谈、后续访谈和问卷调查工具收集数据。

发现

结果显示，企业家采用了四阶段的系统决策过程来获得有利可图的国外市场选择。决策过程受到认知边界的影响，因为企业家依赖于可用性经验、锚定和调整启发式。

研究局限性/影响

该研究的结果和提出的决策模型将极大地帮助愿意进行国际扩张的企业家加强决策，以获得有利可图的国外市场选择。此外，它还通过帮助东道国吸引更多外国直接投资流入，为东道国的外国投资决策者带来好处，从而促进东道国的经济和社会发展运动。

原创性/价值

本研究通过开发企业家在跨国背景下选择和进入国外市场的决策模型，为企业家和中小企业的国际化进程的文献提供了重大的理论贡献。此外，该研究对于定性案例研究方法在捕捉国外市场选择过程要素方面的有效性提供了重要的方法论贡献。