Mapping Business Models Opportunities in Technological Space for Emerging Country Entrepreneurs

While it is true that science and technology resources are not as abundant in emerging countries as in industrialised economies, entrepreneurs in the former still have open for them a wide space in which to build technology-focused firms. Even though they do not have ready access to frontier R&D, the scientific and technological resources they can use open up a new set of opportunities. These opportunities may be found in areas unexploited by firms from developed economies; they may be defined by locally available raw materials or by new links in global supply chains that grow in complexity over time. We set forth a theoretical model that aims to map the links between technology-focused business models and internationalisation processes for firms in emerging economies. This model is built on the basis of case studies conducted in Jalisco, Mexico, under the grounded theory approach. Theoretical issues are defined and built on the basis of recent findings in the field of business models and internationalisation processes in the specialised literature. Since the applicability of these findings to firms from emerging economies is not straightforward, our paper explicitly discusses differences in the role of technology in competition among firms, both locally and internationally.