International Entrepreneurship

International Business is no longer the (almost) exclusive domain of large multinational corporations. Increasingly, small 'start-up' firms are having a significant impact on cross-border commerce. Reflecting this development, this course has two main goals. The first is to help students understand the particular challenges of entrepreneurial action in international context. The second is to provide an educational vehicle for developing a draft international business plan for future use in seeking venture capital and other support. To that end, objectives include familiarization with all the classical elements of a Business Plan and development of skill in understanding the factors that venture capitalists look for in evaluating such plans. Students critically analyze entrepreneurial ventures from history and field?s literature to identify causal factors in success or failure of such ventures. They learn to identify the distinctive bases of sustainable competitive advantage that are essential to the success of an entrepreneurial firm, never more crucially than in international context.