Contribution to the development of pedagogical learning in international entrepreneurship

Abstract

In order to understand and describe the internationalization behavior of companies, the first research carried out before the 1970s focused on large multinationals whose internationalization strategies were made possible by heavy investments.
Other research on the internationalization of SMEs, conducted in the United States and Europe in the early 1980s, has given rise to behavioral models in stages where size is a barrier to internationalization.
However, we find that very small businesses (TPE), newly created, inexperienced and with limited resources, internationalize and thwart the classic models of internationalization by scrambling the stages. Age, size and resources are no longer barriers to internationalization. This makes Cavusgil (1980) say that the gradual internationalization of companies has become obsolete. Veilleux and Ferro (2010) confirm that today, between 1 and 2% of new businesses are international when they are created and 76% have export prospects in the first two years.
And the majority of research carried out since the 1990s deals with the precocity and rapidity of this internationalization from a point of view external to the company such as the saturation of local and / or national markets, the liberalization of international markets or the aid provided by governments, competitive pressure; and from an internal factors point of view such as the role of the manager and his various experiences, the support of his social networks, the use of new communication and production technologies, the characteristics of the product.
However, there are very few works that address the internationalization of these VSEs through pedagogical learning in international entrepreneurship; learning mediated by the University, quickly enabling these companies to position themselves on an international market.
The object of this research is precisely the questioning of the relevance of this learning; and this, through our participation in the training "International Entrepreneurship and Development of the Global Enterprise" initiated by the "College of Business" of the University of Indiana (ISU).
It is a training program, offered by the ISU "College of Business", bringing together Universities from four other continents: Europe, America, Asia, Africa & l 'Oceania. A mixed group of teacher-researchers and researchers from these different universities benefited from this training program.