INV Market Entry: Legitimation and Capability

This paper explores external and internal critical incidents that shape the emergence of new forms and ways of organizing in a new venture that was launched in an emerging market by an international new non-for-profit organization. The paper responds to extant criticism that most of the knowledge about the internal organization of firms comes from the research on large established organizations and that the research aimed to understand internal organization of entrepreneurial ventures is scarce. Theoretically the paper is grounded within legitimation and dynamic capability theories of the firm. Although the research on legitimation of INVs is emerging, it is yet to form a central line of enquiry in the context of such new, international entrepreneurial ventures. This paper aims to contribute to this development. Autoethnography is employed as an approach to address the above questions and concerns. The author of this paper was hired as CEO in September 2005 by INV-NGO to start-up, grow and lead its branch in an emerging market. The events and incidents occurred between 2005 and 2009. The approach of narrating organization is employed to present, analyze and interpret the data. A number of theoretical insights, conjectures emerged as a result of the analysis of new forms and ways of organizing at personal, venture, and industry levels through the lenses of legitimation and dynamic capability theories of the firm.