International entrepreneurship in emerging economies: the role of social capital, knowledge development and entrepreneurial actions

Increasingly, emerging economies are surfacing value-creating entrepreneurial opportunities for firms committed to entrepreneurship as a path to firm growth. However, these opportunities are recognised and exploited only when the firm entrepreneurially manages its resources. Herein, we adopt a contextual approach and integrate resource-based theory, organisational learning theory, social capital theory and strategic entrepreneurship in order to present a theoretical analysis of the means firms employ to create and exploit competitive advantages in emerging economies. We emphasise strategic alliances as the most suitable entry mode for a foreign firm to use to enter an emerging economy successfully. In addition, we use social capital theory to describe the actions the partners of an alliance (a foreign firm and a local emerging economy firm) take to develop a mutually beneficial cooperative relationship and to establish an effective, continuous learning process.