IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ins/quaeco/qf0802.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Internationalization of Global Start-Ups: Understanding the Role of Serial Entrepreneurs

Author

Listed:
  • Onetti Alberto

    (Department of Economics, University of Insubria, Italy)

  • Odorici Vincenza

    (Business Administration Department , University of Bologna, Italy)

  • Presutti Manuela

    (Business Administration Department , University of Bologna, Italy)

Abstract

Using qualitative methodology, we aim to understand how serial entrepreneurs can foster the development of born-global ventures. We consider a born-global start-up as the final stage of the learning process for a serial entrepreneur, advancing propositions regarding the importance of prior entrepreneurial experience – in terms of knowledge acquisition, identification and exploitation of opportunities, social networks development – for bornglobal venture creation and growth. We verify that the serial entrepreneur’s previous entrepreneurial experiences could substitute for the lack of knowledge, opportunity recognition and social networks of a born-global start-up. Thus, we recognize the necessity of a shift in the unit of analysis, from born-global start-up to a global serial entrepreneur. Moreover, we suggest to follow a dynamic approach when the born-global start-up issue is discussed since we expect that the entrepreneur’s learning process evolves over time in relation to their quality of previous experiences.

Suggested Citation

  • Onetti Alberto & Odorici Vincenza & Presutti Manuela, 2008. "The Internationalization of Global Start-Ups: Understanding the Role of Serial Entrepreneurs," Economics and Quantitative Methods qf0802, Department of Economics, University of Insubria.
  • Handle: RePEc:ins:quaeco:qf0802
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.eco.uninsubria.it/RePEc/pdf/QF2008_2.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ardichvili, Alexander & Cardozo, Richard & Ray, Sourav, 2003. "A theory of entrepreneurial opportunity identification and development," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 105-123, January.
    2. Maria Minniti & William Bygrave, 2001. "A Dynamic Model of Entrepreneurial Learning," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 25(3), pages 5-16, April.
    3. Stan D Reid, 1981. "The Decision-Maker and Export Entry and Expansion," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 12(2), pages 101-112, June.
    4. Eric L. Hansen, 1995. "Entrepreneurial Networks and New Organization Growth," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 19(4), pages 7-19, July.
    5. Thomas Hellmann & Manju Puri, 2002. "Venture Capital and the Professionalization of Start‐Up Firms: Empirical Evidence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(1), pages 169-197, February.
    6. Davidsson, Per & Honig, Benson, 2003. "The role of social and human capital among nascent entrepreneurs," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 301-331, May.
    7. Rerup, Claus, 2005. "Learning from past experience: Footnotes on mindfulness and habitual entrepreneurship," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 451-472, December.
    8. Jan Johanson & Jan-Erik Vahlne, 1977. "The Internationalization Process of the Firm—A Model of Knowledge Development and Increasing Foreign Market Commitments," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 8(1), pages 23-32, March.
    9. Coviello, Nicole E. & Jones, Marian V., 2004. "Methodological issues in international entrepreneurship research," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 485-508, July.
    10. 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.
    11. Forsgren, M., 2002. "The concept of learning in the Uppsala internationalization process model: a critical review," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 257-277, June.
    12. Michael Taylor, 1999. "The small firm as a temporary coalition," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(1), pages 1-19, January.
    13. Diamanto Politis, 2005. "The Process of Entrepreneurial Learning: A Conceptual Framework," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 29(4), pages 399-424, July.
    14. Westhead, Paul & Wright, Mike, 1998. "Novice, portfolio, and serial founders: are they different?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 173-204, May.
    15. Helena Yli‐Renko & Erkko Autio & Harry J. Sapienza, 2001. "Social capital, knowledge acquisition, and knowledge exploitation in young technology‐based firms," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(6‐7), pages 587-613, June.
    16. 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.
    17. 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.
    18. Weerawardena, Jay & Mort, Gillian Sullivan & Liesch, Peter W. & Knight, Gary, 2007. "Conceptualizing accelerated internationalization in the born global firm: A dynamic capabilities perspective," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 294-306, September.
    19. Wright, Mike & Robbie, Ken & Ennew, Christine, 1997. "Venture capitalists and serial entrepreneurs," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 227-249, May.
    20. Zhao, Liming & Aram, John D., 1995. "Networking and growth of young technology-intensive ventures in China," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 10(5), pages 349-370, September.
    21. Benjamin M Oviatt & Patricia P McDougall, 2005. "The internationalization of entrepreneurship," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 36(1), pages 2-8, January.
    22. Michelle Gittelman & Bruce Kogut, 2003. "Does Good Science Lead to Valuable Knowledge? Biotechnology Firms and the Evolutionary Logic of Citation Patterns," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(4), pages 366-382, April.
    23. Simon Mosey & Mike Wright, 2007. "From Human Capital to Social Capital: A Longitudinal Study of Technology–Based Academic Entrepreneurs," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 31(6), pages 909-935, November.
    24. Shane, Scott & Kolvereid, Lars & Westhead, Paul, 1991. "An exploratory examination of the reasons leading to new firm formation across country and gender," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 6(6), pages 431-446, November.
    25. Birley, Sue & Westhead, Paul, 1994. "A taxonomy of business start-up reasons and their impact on firm growth and size," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 7-31, January.
    26. Zhou, Lianxi, 2007. "The effects of entrepreneurial proclivity and foreign market knowledge on early internationalization," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 281-293, September.
    27. Kent Eriksson & Jan Johanson & Anders Majkgård & D Deo Sharma, 1997. "Experimental Knowledge and Costs in the Internationalization Process," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 28(2), pages 337-360, June.
    28. Paul Westhead & Deniz Ucbasaran & Mike Wright & Martin Binks, 2005. "Novice, Serial and Portfolio Entrepreneur Behaviour and Contributions," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 109-132, September.
    29. McGaughey, Sara L., 2007. "Hidden ties in international new venturing: The case of portfolio entrepreneurship," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 307-321, September.
    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. Vincenza Odorici & Manuela Presutti, 2013. "The entrepreneurial experience and strategic orientation of high-tech born global start-ups: An analysis of novice and habitual entrepreneurs," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 11(3), pages 268-291, September.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. Daniel R Clark & Dan Li & Dean A Shepherd, 2018. "Country familiarity in the initial stage of foreign market selection," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(4), pages 442-472, May.
    5. Zhou, Lianxi & Wu, Aiqi, 2014. "Earliness of internationalization and performance outcomes: Exploring the moderating effects of venture age and international commitment," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 132-142.
    6. Dzikowski, Piotr, 2018. "A bibliometric analysis of born global firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 281-294.
    7. Svante Andersson & Natasha Evers, 2015. "International opportunity recognition in international new ventures—a dynamic managerial capabilities perspective," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 260-276, September.
    8. Johanson, Martin & Martín Martín, Oscar, 2015. "The incremental expansion of Born Internationals: A comparison of new and old Born Internationals," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 476-496.
    9. Knight, Gary A. & Liesch, Peter W., 2016. "Internationalization: From incremental to born global," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 93-102.
    10. Farhad Uddin Ahmed & Louis Brennan, 2019. "Performance determinants of early internationalizing firms: The role of international entrepreneurial orientation," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 389-424, September.
    11. D’Angelo, Alfredo & Presutti, Manuela, 2019. "SMEs international growth: The moderating role of experience on entrepreneurial and learning orientations," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 613-624.
    12. 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.
    13. Parker, Simon C., 2013. "Do serial entrepreneurs run successively better-performing businesses?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 652-666.
    14. Krzysztof Wach & Agnieszka Głodowska & Marek Maciejewski, 2018. "Entrepreneurial Orientation, Knowledge Utilization and Internationalization of Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-23, December.
    15. 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.
    16. Wu, Aiqi & Voss, Hinrich, 2015. "When does absorptive capacity matter for international performance of firms? Evidence from China," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 344-351.
    17. 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.
    18. 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.
    19. Bai, Wensong & Holmström-Lind, Christine & Johanson, Martin, 2018. "Leveraging networks, capabilities and opportunities for international success: A study on returnee entrepreneurial ventures," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 51-62.
    20. 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.

    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:ins:quaeco:qf0802. 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: Segreteria Dipartimento (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/feinsit.html .

    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.