"The strange thing about business is that you can't stop" : A qualitative study of the internationalization initiation of female-owned SMEs in Uganda

During the past decade, entrepreneurship and its implications in a developing country context has gained increased attention in research. In Uganda, women in businesss are leading the way in the entrepreneurial development. In addition, the internationalization of small entrepreneurial firms has lately been given more attention within international business research. The purpose of this thesis is to combine these two emerging phenomena within international business in order to investigate how the female entrepreneur's means at hand influence the internationalization initiation of her small and medium-sized enterprise in Uganda. By investigating the subjects in the matter, important components of the entrepreneur's means has been examined. To ensure a deeper understanding, a qualitative research has been followed. This thesis derives from an abductive approach. Due to the lack of previous research on the subject, it benefitted from a combination of inductive empirical research combined with theoretical insights. The literature review takes off from the concept of entrepreneurship and thereafter explores the concept of opportunity, means and internationalization. A conceptual framework concludes the literature review by illustrating the relations between the concepts. The conceptual framwork provided themes for collecting and was used to analyze the empirical data gathered in Uganda by adopting a multi-case approach. The analysis discusses theoretical concepts and empirical findings in contrast and relation to each other, structured by the conceptual framework. This is followed by a concluding chapter stating implications, limitations and suggestions for further research. The outcome of this study has provided a deeper understanding of who the entrepreneur is, what she knows and how she uses her networks and personal ties to go abroad. The findings have resulted in the main theoretical implication of filling the research gap of female entrepreneurship in developing countries as well as providing an example of how the effectual approach can be used when studying entrepreneurship witin international business. We suggest that entrepreneurs and their SMEs benefit from engaging in business networks at an early stage of the internationalization process. Within networks, effectual means are working together to develop market knowledge and find opportunity for international activities.