Entering non-traditional and emerging markets: a matter of opportunity orientation and willingness to take risks?

Internationalisation has much in common with entrepreneurship. Entry into and development of new foreign markets is characterised by high levels of uncertainty and typically occurs under imperfect information. Based on a sample of 369 internationally active Swiss firms, we investigate the link between a firm's opportunity orientation and willingness to take risks, on one hand, and its international activities in non-traditional and emerging markets, on the other. We find suggestive evidence that the opportunity orientation - and not the risk-taking disposition - of exporting firms is an important driver of foreign market expansion into non-traditional and emerging markets.