Transformations  in
Business & Economics

Market Orientation and International Entrepreneurship
Florin Foltean, Emőke-Szidónia Feder

ABSTRACT. The paper highlights the results of a theoretical exploration of possible relationships between entrepreneurial and market orientations, within firms operating on foreign markets. We propose to integrate within the framework of the internationalisation process the two strategic orientations, in order to create a synergistic effect within the organisation, upon the international behaviour of the firm and enable superior international performance.

We critically review the main theoretical studies in the domain, then determine the proposed and validated relations from prior studies and suggest hypothesis for further empirical researches to investigate the antecedents and international performance consequences of market and entrepreneurial orientations. We propose to develop a conceptual model to research the antecedents of market and entrepreneurial orientations and their consequences on international firm performance. Several hypotheses, which are at the base for the conceptual model, are presented for future empirical validation.

KEYWORDS: market orientation, entrepreneurial orientation, international entrepreneurship, international performance, small and medium – sized enterprises.

JEL classification: L26, M16, M31.