Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches Appliquées à la Gestion

In this paper we have attempted to provide Iranian business practitioners with a profile on international opportunity recognition (IOR). After undertaking a review on IOR literature we have presented our methodology; thematic analysis on 43 semi-structured-interviews with Iranian companies working in the construction, mining and home appliances industries. This analysis extracted main themes from practitioners' responses by discussion based on literature, and led to a hierarchy and profile among themes. This profile revealed that brand reputation, human capital and trust in home country, and extension of company's FDI are antecedents that affect companies' IOR using a set of sources. The method we have developed for IOR-mapping could help international business scholars in other countries to analyse their practitioners' situation at IOR and facilitate this process at national or regional level.