The need for strategic redirection and business model change: The impact of evolving influential forces of change on international entrepreneurship environment

Abstract

This article examines the rapidly changing environment of international entrepreneurship. The force behind the change is diverse comprising environmental, socio-economic, and technological, including the emergence of intelligent robotics, 3-D printing, the Internet of all things (IOTs), generative artificial intelligence (AI), and the rapid transformation the WWW to WWW.03, amongst other evolving forces, each with profound impact on the iSMEs embedding ecosystems and operating environment. Introduction briefly introduces a selective list of the influential forces and a range of their potential affects, while the “Further development and literature review” section further examines them within their respective contexts of the emerging crises, and their operational, strategic, and theoretical frameworks as the unfolding influential forces evolve with challenging impacts on the internationalized, or internationalizing, SMEs’ (iSMEs’) pool of capabilities and resources with direct effects on their global competitiveness, and growth at home and internationally. The “Discussion” section, in three parts, explores the combined effects of forces of change on the iSMEs’ top management team (TMT) to analyse their strategic posture, the potency of their firm’ resources, and dynamic capabilities, to take potent decisions for leading to potentially non-trivial organizational and strategic change, including fundamental business model innovation (BMI). “Conclusions, implication, and suggestions” further examines the adverse impacts of the recent crises in three parts, ranging from the 2008–2009 global financial crisis (GFC), COVID pandemic, and the unfolding challenges of the climatic change as discussed in the recent COP 28 meetings, and its suggestion for undertaking remedial actions at the corporate, social, and public policy levels. Combined, the necessary change my result in significant architectural and structural change in many common worldwide aspects without sparing anyone, anything, and any location.