International Entrepreneurship and the Theory of the (Long-Lived) International Firm: A Capabilities Perspective

This paper expands on the Oviatt-McDougall framework of sustainable international ventures. It does so by relating the elements of the framework to existing scholarship on the multinational enterprise (MNE), a category that encompasses foreign direct-invested new ventures (FDINVs). The paper then incorporates entrepreneurship and capabilities into MNE theory and applies them to the FDINV. Strong dynamic capabilities coupled with good strategy work together to generate and sustain superior enterprise performance in fast-moving global environments. The resulting framework is used to revisit key questions in MNE/FDINV research such as the timing and mode of FDI.