From Host Country Nationals to Entrepreneurs: Insights from Professional Service Ventures in Vietnam

Host country nationals (HCNs) leaving the multinational corporation (MNC) for which they have worked for a while to set up their own business is not an unusual phenomenon in fast growing emerging markets. While there is extensive literature on host country nationals and an even richer literature on employee entrepreneurship in the International Business research space, we know substantially less about issues and processes that relate the two. Against this background, the present paper explores this link in the context of Vietnam. On the basis of explorative qualitative study of professional service ventures we establish a classification of host country nationals’ migration paths. We identify four types of pathways: leaving the MNC and returning back to it after the new venture has failed (MNC returnee); working simultaneously for the MNC and the new own venture (permanent hybrid); preparing the new venture while still working for the MNC but with the clear plan to leave (transitional hybrid); and finally leaving the MNC and starting a new venture (direct spin off). We elaborate on the four paths and analyze what consequences they have for MNCs as well as for new ventures in emerging economies. The findings not only help us understand the new venture creation in the emerging market of Vietnam, but also make MNCs entering this fast-growing market aware of the likely synergy or brain drain this phenomenon might bring about.