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Introduction
In a review of international business research trends, Wright and Ricks (1994) observed that international entrepreneurship was one of three key emerging research areas. Since that time, a particular area of enquiry has focused on the international new venture or INV (Oviatt and McDougall, 1994). In the international business literature, this type of organization has been distinguished from the small firm both conceptually (Oviatt and McDougall, 1994; Knight and Cavusgil, 1996; Madsen and Servais, 1997) and empirically (Jones, 1999; Madsen et al. , 2000; McDougall et al. , 2003). As reported in the early literature, one distinguishing feature of INVs is that they are 'different' from conception because from, or near, founding they have a global focus and commit resources to international activities (Oviatt and McDougall, 1994; Knight and Cavusgil, 1996). A second distinguishing feature is the INV's involvement in networks to facilitate rapid internationalization (Oviatt and McDougall, 1994; Coviello and Munro, 1995).
If the early mobilization of INVs is facilitated by network relationships, it is reasonable to assume that such ties emerge pre-internationalization. This follows Wiedersheim-Paul et al. 's (1978, 53) observation that the 'likelihood of acquiring a fortuitous order will in many cases be dependent upon the pre-export activity of the firm.' To date, however, most of our understanding of INV networks relates to initial foreign market entry and activities post-internationalization, even though entrepreneurship research shows that the development of a new organization may be imprinted through ties and knowledge generated pre-founding (Shane, 2000). This suggests a need to understand INV networks at not only internationalization and pre-internationalization, but also pre-founding. Doing so would begin to provide an understanding of the dynamic processes, such as networks, associated with INV formation. Research in this area has been called for by McDougall and Oviatt (2003).
Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to assess the network dynamics of INVs. Our focus is on INV networks rather than the INV per se , and the network is positioned as the 'dependent variable'. Following the advice of McDougall and Oviatt (2000) and Jones and Coviello (2005), the theoretical foundation for this study embraces arguments from the entrepreneurship literature. By including theory pertaining specifically to the new venture, we address concerns that the conceptual frameworks underpinning...