Title: The role of professional service providers during the initial stages of international entrepreneurship: a neo-institutionalist view

Authors: Sudhir Nair; David G. Cohen; Christopher R. Meyer

Addresses: Peter B. Gustavson School of Business, University of Victoria, 3800 Finnerty Road, Victoria BC V8P 5C2, Canada ' Department of Management and Business, Skidmore College, 815 N. Broadway, Saratoga Springs, New York 12866, USA ' Gabelli School of Business, Fordham University, 113 W 60th Street, New York, NY 10023, USA

Abstract: Examined through the lens of institutional theory, entrepreneurs choosing to do business beyond their home national boundaries are choosing to operate under host country institutions that are likely to be different from their home country institutions. Given the strong normative pressures that these foreign institutions bring to bear on organisations and individuals, we suggest that the decision to expand into different national markets raises interesting questions of whether to succumb to these pressures or find ways to counteract them. In this conceptual paper, we suggest that professional service firms (PSFs) play an important role in resolving this institutional dilemma. Focusing on the initial decision to explore international expansion and looking at PSFs as institutional translators, we suggest that the decision to hire PSFs depends upon the characteristics of the firm, industry and home institutions, moderated by the institutional distance between the home and host nation dyad.

Keywords: neo-institutional theory; international entrepreneurship; professional service providers; international expansion; internationalisation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2017.082911

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2017 Vol.30 No.4, pp.526 - 544

Received: 12 Feb 2015
Accepted: 27 Jan 2016
Published online: 15 Mar 2017 *

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