IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/iburev/v17y2008i4p385-401.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Born globals: Propositions to help advance the theory

Author

Listed:
  • Gabrielsson, Mika
  • Kirpalani, V.H. Manek
  • Dimitratos, Pavlos
  • Solberg, Carl Arthur
  • Zucchella, Antonella

Abstract

Although born globals (BGs) have now been studied for over a decade, theory and practice are still evolving. This article was written to clarify the definition of a Born Global (BG) firm and to describe the three phases--introductory, growth and resource accumulation, and break-out to independent growth as a major player--through which BGs progress. Drawing from empirical evidence, it was found that the risks, resource development, channels/networks and organisational learning of BGs develop during the three phases through which successful BGs pass. However, this process deviates considerably from that followed by traditional internationalising small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Born Global entrepreneurs and academics can learn much by studying the causes of these differences.

Suggested Citation

  • Gabrielsson, Mika & Kirpalani, V.H. Manek & Dimitratos, Pavlos & Solberg, Carl Arthur & Zucchella, Antonella, 2008. "Born globals: Propositions to help advance the theory," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 385-401, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:iburev:v:17:y:2008:i:4:p:385-401
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969593108000371
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Warren J Bilkey & George Tesar, 1977. "The Export Behavior of Smaller-Sized Wisconsin Manufacturing Firms," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 8(1), pages 93-98, March.
    2. Niina Nummela & Sami Saarenketo & Kaisu Puumalainen, 2004. "Rapidly with a Rifle or more Slowly with a Shotgun? Stretching the Company Boundaries of Internationalising ICT Firms," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 2(4), pages 275-288, December.
    3. Kuemmerle, Walter, 2002. "Home base and knowledge management in international ventures," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 99-122, March.
    4. Maria Minniti & William Bygrave, 2001. "A Dynamic Model of Entrepreneurial Learning," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 25(3), pages 5-16, April.
    5. Madsen, Tage Koed & Servais, Per, 1997. "The internationalization of Born Globals: An evolutionary process?," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 6(6), pages 561-583, December.
    6. Peter J. Buckley & Mark Casson, 2010. "Models of the Multinational Enterprise," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: The Multinational Enterprise Revisited, chapter 7, pages 147-176, Palgrave Macmillan.
    7. Marian V Jones & Nicole E Coviello, 2005. "Internationalisation: conceptualising an entrepreneurial process of behaviour in time," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 36(3), pages 284-303, May.
    8. Bell, Jim & McNaughton, Rod & Young, Stephen, 2001. "'Born-again global' firms: An extension to the 'born global' phenomenon," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 173-189.
    9. John H Dunning, 1988. "The Eclectic Paradigm of International Production: A Restatement and Some Possible Extensions," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 19(1), pages 1-31, March.
    10. Kuivalainen, Olli & Sundqvist, Sanna & Servais, Per, 2007. "Firms' degree of born-globalness, international entrepreneurial orientation and export performance," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 253-267, September.
    11. Coviello, Nicole & Munro, Hugh, 1997. "Network relationships and the internationalisation process of small software firms," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 6(4), pages 361-386, August.
    12. Gabrielsson, Mika & Manek Kirpalani, V. H., 2004. "Born globals: how to reach new business space rapidly," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(5), pages 555-571, October.
    13. Rialp, Alex & Rialp, Josep & Knight, Gary A., 2005. "The phenomenon of early internationalizing firms: what do we know after a decade (1993-2003) of scientific inquiry?," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 147-166, April.
    14. Paul J. H. Schoemaker, 1990. "Strategy, Complexity, and Economic Rent," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 36(10), pages 1178-1192, October.
    15. Zucchella, Antonella & Palamara, G. & Denicolai, S., 2007. "The drivers of the early internationalization of the firm," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 268-280, September.
    16. Benjamin M Oviatt & Patricia Phillips McDougall, 1994. "Toward a Theory of International New ventures," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 25(1), pages 45-64, March.
    17. Shaker A Zahra, 2005. "A theory of international new ventures: a decade of research," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 36(1), pages 20-28, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dzikowski, Piotr, 2018. "A bibliometric analysis of born global firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 281-294.
    2. Jones, Marian V. & Coviello, Nicole & Tang, Yee Kwan, 2011. "International Entrepreneurship research (1989–2009): A domain ontology and thematic analysis," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 632-659.
    3. Francisco García-Lillo & Enrique Claver-Cortés & Bartolomé Marco-Lajara & Mercedes Úbeda-García, 2017. "Mapping the Intellectual Structure of Research on ‘Born Global’ Firms and INVs: A Citation/Co-citation Analysis," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 631-652, August.
    4. Farhad Uddin Ahmed & Louis Brennan, 2019. "The impact of Founder’s human capital on firms’ extent of early internationalisation: Evidence from a least-developed country," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 36(3), pages 615-659, September.
    5. Gerschewski, Stephan & Rose, Elizabeth L. & Lindsay, Valerie J., 2015. "Understanding the drivers of international performance for born global firms: An integrated perspective," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 558-575.
    6. Schwens, Christian & Kabst, Ruediger, 2011. "Internationalization of young technology firms: A complementary perspective on antecedents of foreign market familiarity," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 60-74, February.
    7. Sascha Kraus & Alexander Brem & Miriam Schuessler & Felix Schuessler & Thomas Niemand, 2019. "Innovative Born Globals: Investigating the Influence of Their Business Models on International Performance," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Alexander Brem & Joe Tidd & Tugrul Daim (ed.), Managing Innovation Internationalization of Innovation, chapter 11, pages 275-328, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    8. Hewerdine, Lisa & Welch, Catherine, 2013. "Are international new ventures really new? A process study of organizational emergence and internationalization," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 466-477.
    9. Nowinski, Witold & Rialp, Alex, 2013. "Drivers and strategies of international new ventures from a Central European transition economy," Journal of East European Management Studies, Rainer Hampp Verlag, vol. 18(2), pages 191-231.
    10. Ciravegna, Luciano & Kuivalainen, Olli & Kundu, Sumit K. & Lopez, Luis E., 2018. "The antecedents of early internationalization: A configurational perspective," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 1200-1212.
    11. Sleuwaegen, Leo & Onkelinx, Jonas, 2014. "International commitment, post-entry growth and survival of international new ventures," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 106-120.
    12. Rubina Romanello & Maria Chiarvesio, 2019. "Early internationalizing firms: 2004–2018," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 172-219, June.
    13. Knight, Gary A. & Liesch, Peter W., 2016. "Internationalization: From incremental to born global," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 93-102.
    14. Gabrielsson, Mika & Gabrielsson, Peter, 2011. "Internet-based sales channel strategies of born global firms," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 88-99, February.
    15. Jiang, Guohua & Kotabe, Masaaki & Zhang, Feng & Hao, Andy W. & Paul, Justin & Wang, Cheng Lu, 2020. "The determinants and performance of early internationalizing firms: A literature review and research agenda," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(4).
    16. Oskar Villarreal Larrinaga, 2010. "The Dodecagon of Internationalisation: A Theoretical Integration Model," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(1), pages 3-24.
    17. Farhad Uddin Ahmed & Louis Brennan, 2021. "A review of methodological diversity within the domain of international entrepreneurship," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 256-299, June.
    18. Elena Pawęta, 2015. "Entrepreneur-related constructs explaining the emergence of born global firms: A Systematic Literature Review," Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review, Centre for Strategic and International Entrepreneurship at the Cracow University of Economics., vol. 3(4), pages 11-36.
    19. Noor Ismail & Olli Kuivalainen, 2015. "The effect of internal capabilities and external environment on small- and medium-sized enterprises’ international performance and the role of the foreign market scope: The case of the Malaysian halal," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 418-451, December.
    20. Ripollés, Maria & Blesa, Andreu, 2012. "International new ventures as “small multinationals”: The importance of marketing capabilities," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 277-287.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:iburev:v:17:y:2008:i:4:p:385-401. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/133/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.