Transnational Entrepreneurship: An Emergent Field of Study Israel Drori Benson Honig Mike Wright This article introduces the reader to the scope, boundaries, variation, and theoretical lenses of transnational entrepreneurship (TE) research. We discuss issues concerning why, how, and when individuals and/or organizations pursue new business ventures, often in far less attractive environments, while relying on abilities and opportunities stemming from the exploitation of resources, both social and economic, in more than one country. We compare TE with international entrepreneurs, ethnic entrepreneurs, and returnee entrepreneurs. TE is considered from several perspectives: agency, institutional, cultural, power relations, and social capital and networks. We summarize the articles presented in this special issue and outline an agenda for further research. Transnational Entrepreneurship (TE): An Emergent Field of Study As showcased in this special issue, TE is a rapidly emerging aspect of international business (IB) expansion that was insignificant only a few short decades ago. Approximately 3% of the world’s population are immigrants, who account for 10% of the population living in developed countries (Riddle, 2008). The process of TE involves entrepreneurial activities that are carried out in a cross-national context, and initiated by actors who are embedded in at least two different social and economic arenas. Transnational entrepreneurs (TEs) are individuals that migrate from one country to another, concurrently maintaining business- related linkages with their former country of origin, and currently adopted countries and communities. By traveling both physically and virtually, TEs simultaneously engage in two or more socially embedded environments, allowing them to maintain critical global relations that enhance their ability to creatively, dynamically, and logistically maximize their resource base. We thus define TEs as social actors who enact networks, ideas, information, and practices for the purpose of seeking business opportunities or maintaining businesses within dual social fields, which in turn force them to engage in varied strategies of action to promote their entrepreneurial activities. Since information is critical to the success of any organizational endeavor, and because TEs occupy two geographical locations that provide and support unique infor- mational flows, they are in a unique position to identify and exploit opportunities that Please send correspondence to: Mike Wright, tel.: +44 (0)115-951-5257; e-mail: mike.wright@ nottingham.ac.uk, to Israel Drori at israeld@colman.ac.il, and to Benson Honig at bhonig@mcmaster.ca. P T E & 1042-2587 © 2009 Baylor University 1001 September, 2009