Marketing capabilities, positional advantage, and performance of born global firms: Contingent effect of ambidextrous innovation

Research on international entrepreneurship field is still in its infancy, where innovation is particularly emphasized in the pursuit of opportunities. The literature exhibits considerable gaps related to how newly born international firms, known as born globals, can overcome their asset-constrained conditions to enhance performance. In this regard, numerous scholars have proposed controversial arguments, such as that born global should leverage the highest levels of innovation for superior performance. However, innovation is asset-consuming and born global firms are asset-constrained. Drawing from the competitive advantage theory, we develop and test an original framework exploring the role of a balanced innovation approach, the ambidextrous innovation of born global firms. Our study reveals how the moderation effect of ambidextrous innovation could strengthen the link between marketing capabilities and positional advantage. Also, our findings suggest that positional advantage has an important mediating role in the relationship between marketing capabilities and export venture performance. Likewise, positional advantage mediates the relationship between competitive strategy and export venture performance. Additionally, we propose that competitive strategy mediates the relationship between marketing capabilities and positional advantage. This study presents valuable managerial implications to monitor closely ambidextrous innovation as key decision-making input for performance enhancement of born global firms. The empirical context for the study is a sample of high-technology born global firms from Mexico—an important emerging market yet relatively understudied.