This paper extends our theoretical understanding of how international opportunities trigger the knowledge-commitment cycle and lead to growth. Longitudinal data from seven international firms was analysed to build a deep, processual understanding of the opportunities developed by the case study firms. Utilizing an abductive approach, the complexities and contextual dynamics of internationalisation processes were explored as they evolved, revealing that path-breaking opportunities are major events that disrupt the ongoing process of regular opportunity development and provide new knowledge that triggers a greater commitment to internationalisation. While firms may discover path-breaking opportunities at different points in their trajectory over hermeneutic and chronological time, key commitments to international markets are made when such opportunities are in hand or clearly in sight. Our use of an abductive process illustrates its intricacies and suitability for explaining temporal phenomena.

本文扩展了我们对国际机会如何触发知识承诺周期并导致增长的理论理解。对来自七家国际公司的纵向数据进行了分析，以对案例研究公司所开发的机会建立深入的、过程性的理解。利用溯因式方法，随着国际化进程的发展，探索了国际化过程的复杂性和背景动态，揭示了开创性机会是破坏正在进行的常规机会开发过程的重大事件，并提供了引发对国际化更大承诺的新知识。虽然公司可能会在解释学和时间顺序的发展轨迹的不同点发现开创性的机会，当这种机会在手或清晰可见时，就会对国际市场做出重要承诺。我们对溯因过程的使用说明了它的复杂性和解释时间现象的适用性。