ABSTRACT
Traditionally, the two research areas of entrepreneurship and internationalization have been separate fields of interest. Large MNCs have been the primary unit of interest in internationalization research, and research on entrepreneurship has focused on entrepreneurs and domestic start-ups. More recently, there has been an increased interest in the overlap of the two fields, and a third has emerged, that is, the study of international entrepreneurship. In this field the influence of entrepreneurs on firms’ international development is an important area to study. Internationalization and international entrepreneurship literature is scrutinized in this chapter and compared with longitudinal in-depth studies of three firms in the Swedish rubber product industry. Three different international patterns are identified, which are connected with three different types of entrepreneurs: the technical entrepreneur, the marketing entrepreneur, and the structure entrepreneur. These concepts are used to understand firms’ different internationalization patterns. A model that puts the entrepreneur in focus when explaining firms’ international behavior is introduced. Finally, some implications for practitioners and future research are pointed out.
