THE EFFECTUATION METHOD IN THE SWISS AND THAI SME INTERNATIONAL OPPORTUNITY PROCESS: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Abstract

The early 21st century presents an uncertain and unpredictable international business environment where business executives must navigate their business activities across national borders. This conceptual paper aims to propose a conceptual framework as a foundation for qualitative cross-national comparative research in international entrepreneurship. Two literature streams; 1) the effectuation method in decision-making and action, and 2) use of the international opportunity concept to inform conceptual framework development. Understanding of how effectual and causal logic are used in business processes and when and why either logic is used over another is still underdeveloped. This paper provides a research framework to conduct qualitative cross-national comparative research to guide international business executives in looking for adequate and effective decision-making solutions to tackle the uncertainty and risk of international business activities deployed across international borders in the 21st century. In conclusion, use of the effectual method in the international opportunity concept is not fully understood, with the current understanding lacking detail, and having an especially high need for qualitative comparitive cross-national research between Switzerland and Thailand, particularly in the international architecture and engineering consulting service industry