p.o. box 4600, 90014 university of oulu tel. (08) 553 2905, fax (08) 553 2906 international...

P.O. BOX 4600, 90014 University of Oulu • tel. (08) 553 2905, fax (08) 553 2906 • www.oulubusinessschool.fi

International Entrepreneurial Selling – Entrepreneurs’ Narratives on International Sales

NegotiationsGlobal Sales Science Institute 8th Annual Conference

June 11, 2014Irene Lehto

Ph.D. Candidate, Oulu Business [email protected]

Introduction• Increasing practical importance of international sales

• Need for more research output • Particularly small firms struggle with international sales

• Research gap: new firm and entrepreneurial perspective on international sales

• Growing focus on entrepreneurial sales behaviour of professional salespeople • Individual-centred, role of context not elaborated


P.O. BOX 4600, 90014 University of Oulu, FINLAND • tel. +358 294 480 000, fax +358 8 553 2906 • www.oulubusinessschool.fi

Research Question and Objective• How do entrepreneurs make sense of international

entrepreneurial selling?• Empirical approach: international sales negotiations,

early internationalising firms, 3 narratives

→ Elaborates on the concept of international entrepreneurial selling

→ Individuals’ reflections on socially constructed reality analysed

Theoretical Basis: Entrepreneurial Selling

Sales- Rather consistent

environment

- Continuous market conditions

- Clear customer needs

Entrepreneurship- Volatile

environment

- Changing market conditions

-Unclear customer needs


Entrepreneurial Selling

Process-based market-drivenrisk-seeking

proactive

• Entrepreneurial marketing (and sales)

”the proactive identification and exploitation of opportunities for acquiring and retaining profitable customers through innovative approaches to risk management, resource leveraging and value creation” (Morris, Schindehutte and LaForge 2002, p. 5)


Theoretical Basis: Entrepreneurial Selling

• International entrepreneurship (IE): “the creative enactment and envisioning of future scenarios and opportunities for service/product/ organizational transformation that are socially constructed and realized through joint cross border co-ordinations” (Fletcher 2004, p. 296)

• International opportunity (IO) in IE:“a situation that both spans and integrates elements from multiple national contexts in which entrepreneurial action and interaction transform the manifestations of economic activity” (Mainela, Puhakka and Servais 2014, p. 16)


Theoretical Basis: International Entrepreneurship

Theoretical Basis: International Entrepreneurship and Sales Negotiations

International Selling in

Negotiations- process to reach an agreement on

economic exchange

interaction

- problem/option/ needs/solution-

focused

International Entrepreneurship

(IE)- discovery,

construction, enactment, evaluation

and exploitation of international opportunities

- creation of future goods and services


International Entrepreneurial

SellingContextual diversity,

process-based, opportunity-

focused

Theoretical Basis: International Entrepreneurial Selling• Based on definitions of entrepreneurial selling, social

constructionist approach to IE, and definition of international opportunity in IE…• international entrepreneurial selling:

joint envisioning, construction and enactment of international opportunities in situations that span and integrate elements from several national contexts and in which the interaction aims at economic transaction through creative approaches to risk management, resource leveraging and value creation


Methodology• Purposive sampling: entrepreneurs doing international

B2B selling within 3 years of firm inception• Nordic country; active start-up ecosystem, small

domestic market → growth through internationalisation• Diversity of perspectives: stories from different

backgrounds and situations• Narrative approach to data collection and analysis

• With narratives entrepreneurs construct and make sense of their experiences, explain their actions and thinking, and build on holistic descriptions and causal pathways between relevant events, actors and the context


Data – Backgrounds of the Stories


Entrepreneur A Entrepreneur B Entrepreneur C

Education IT Marketing Natural sciences + marketing

Priorexperience

- 18y in MNC- Many tasks but not sales- Vast international experience

-10y in MNC- Many tasks but not sales- Vast international experience

- Researcher (continuing) - International experience but no sales experience

Start-up - Own venture established Nov 2011- Software development

- New venture started in Aug 2012- Wellbeing service platform

- Joined start-up in summer 2011 - Medical research and development

International sales

- Entry to UK initiated in 2013- Local agents and own sales rep

- Entry to USA initiated in 2013- Help from local consultant

- Sales in Europe and USA- Expansion to USA/Asia planned

Findings


Conclusions• Contribution to international sales literature by depicting

international entrepreneurial selling from the perspective of entrepreneurs (narrative method!)• Very different from professional selling• Focus: interaction and joint action, i.e. social

construction of IO, for early validation and revenue • Emphasis on efficacy and expertise to envision

and enact IOs with customers• Innovativeness, flexibility and speed expected, and

enabled by lack of hierarchy and expertise• Crucial role of local support in early stages of

negotiations


Limitations and Future Research• Generalisation is not reached, nor intended• Longitudinal data needed for process-based analysis• Restricted to the specific context of international sales

negotiations• How are other types of international sales tasks and

processes constructed by entrepreneurs?• Only three stories → there is a lot more to discover

• How do different kinds of entrepreneurs in different types of contexts reflect on international selling?

• Future research needed on the ways IOs are envisioned and enacted in the customer interface


Thank you for your attention!

Any comments and suggestions are welcome!


References

Fletcher, Denise E. (2004) “International entrepreneurship and the small business,” Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 16 (4), 289–305.

Mainela, Tuija, Vesa Puhakka, and Per Servais (2014) “The Concept of International Opportunity in International Entrepreneurship: A Review and a Research Agenda,” International Journal of Management Reviews, 16 (1), 105–129.

Morris, Michael H., Minet Schindehutte, and Raymond W. LaForge (2002), “Entrepreneurial Marketing: A Construct for Integrating Emerging Entrepreneurship and Marketing Perspectives,” Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 10 (4), 1–19.

Further references can be requested from the author.


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