An inquiry into born‐global firms in Europe and the USA

Companies that internationalise at or near their founding, “born globals,” are emerging in great numbers world‐wide. Characterised by a specific Gestalt of marketing‐related competencies, they are playing an increasing role in international trade. Born globals are investigated using data from case and survey‐based studies in Denmark and the USA. First introduces and describes the born‐global phenomenon. Then, hypotheses are developed and tested via a structural model that represents key factors in the international success of this important breed of firm. Results suggest that born‐global international performance is enhanced in the wake of managerial emphasis on foreign customer focus and marketing competence. Product quality and differentiation strategy also play important roles, particularly in the US firms. These and additional findings are discussed in light of their theoretical and practical implications.

[1]  Joseph Ganitsky.  Strategies for Innate and Adoptive Exporters: Lessons from Israel′s Case , 1989 .

[2]  John C. Narver,et al.  The Effect of a Market Orientation on Business Profitability , 1990 .

[3]  H. Barkema,et al.  International Expansion Through Start-Up or Acquisition: A Learning Perspective , 1998 .

[4]  K. Sivakumar,et al.  Instituting the marketing concept in a multinational setting: The role of national culture , 2001 .

[5]  Roderick E. White.  Generic business strategies, organizational context and performance: An empirical investigation , 1986 .

[6]  David J. Miller,et al.  Relating Porter's Business Strategies to Environment and Structure: Analysis and Performance Implications , 1988 .

[7]  Bent Petersen,et al.  The Internet and Foreign Market Expansion by Firms , 2002 .

[8]  P. P. McDougall,et al.  International Entrepreneurship: The Intersection of Two Research Paths , 2000 .

[9]  J. Johanson,et al.  The Internationalization Process of the Firm—A Model of Knowledge Development and Increasing Foreign Market Commitments , 1977 .

[10]  R. J. House,et al.  Organizations: A Quantum View , 1984 .

[11]  Michael R. Mullen.  Diagnosing Measurement Equivalence in Cross-National Research , 1995 .

[12]  J. Nunnally,et al.  Psychometric Theory: NY. , 1978 .

[13]  C. Craig,et al.  International Marketing Research , 1983 .

[14]  E. Autio,et al.  Effects of Age at Entry, Knowledge Intensity, and Imitability on International Growth , 2000 .

[15]  Bernard J. Jaworski,et al.  Market orientation: The construct, research propositions, and managerial implications. , 1990 .

[16]  M. Hannan,et al.  The Population Ecology of Organizations , 1977, American Journal of Sociology.

[17]  S. Cavusgil,et al.  Marketing Strategy-Performance Relationship: An Investigation of the Empirical Link in Export Market Ventures , 1994 .

[18]  J. Johanson,et al.  THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF THE FIRM — FOUR SWEDISH CASES , 1975 .

[19]  Gregory S. Carpenter,et al.  Consumer Preference Formation and Pioneering Advantage , 1989 .

[20]  David J. Collis,et al.  A resource‐based analysis of global competition: The case of the bearings industry , 1991 .

[21]  M. Hitt,et al.  International expansion by new venture firms: International diversity, mode of market entry, technological learning, and performance. , 2000 .

[22]  Hermann. Simon,et al.  Hidden Champions: Lessons from 500 of the World's Best Unknown Companies , 1996 .

[23]  Richard P. Bagozzi,et al.  Assessing Construct Validity in Organizational Research , 1991 .

[24]  Tage Koed Madsen,et al.  Successful Export Marketing Management: Some Empirical Evidence , 1989 .

[25]  P. Kotler,et al.  Principles of Marketing , 1983 .

[26]  Floyd J. Fowler,et al.  Survey Research Methods , 1984 .

[27]  W. Bilkey,et al.  The Export Behavior of Smaller-Sized Wisconsin Manufacturing Firms , 1977 .

[28]  Joseph T. Mahoney,et al.  The management of resources and the resource of management , 1995 .

[29]  F. Webster.  The Changing Role of Marketing in the Corporation , 1992 .

[30]  Rajan Varadarajan,et al.  Success-Producer and Failure-Preventer Marketing Skills: A Social Learning Theory Interpretation , 1992 .

[31]  P. P. McDougall,et al.  Toward a Theory of International New ventures , 1994 .

[32]  M. Lambkin.  Order of entry and performance in new markets , 1988 .

[33]  Anthony C. Koh.  Relationships among Organisational Characteristics, Marketing Strategy and Export Performance , 1991 .

[34]  Sylvie K. Chetty,et al.  Firm‐level Determinants of Export Performance: A Meta‐analysis , 1993 .

[35]  David W. Gerbing,et al.  An Updated Paradigm for Scale Development Incorporating Unidimensionality and Its Assessment , 1988 .

[36]  Benjamin M. Oviatt,et al.  Challenges for Internationalization Process Theory: The Case of International New Ventures , 1997 .

[37]  Rajiv K. Sinha,et al.  Market Orientation and Alternative Strategic Orientations: A Longitudinal Assessment of Performance Implications , 2002 .

[38]  R. Calantone,et al.  The Critical Role of Product Quality in the International Performance of Industrial Firms , 2000 .

[39]  A. Morrison,et al.  Business-Level Competitive Strategy: A Contingency Link to Internationalization , 1992 .

[40]  J. Mentzer,et al.  The Effects of Strategy Type on the Market Orientation–Performance Relationship , 2000 .

[41]  Björn Sven Ivens,et al.  Hunt, Shelby D., A General Theory of Competition: Resources, Competences, Productivity, Economic Growth, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, London, New Delhi 2000, geb., $ 89,95 , 2002 .

[42]  Kenneth A. Bollen,et al.  Structural Equations with Latent Variables , 1989 .

[43]  Charles Darwin,et al.  On the origin of species, 1859 , 1988 .

[44]  W. Deming.  Quality, productivity, and competitive position , 1982 .

[45]  B. Wernerfelt,et al.  A Resource-Based View of the Firm , 1984 .

[46]  Ø. Moen,et al.  Born Global or Gradual Global? Examining the Export Behavior of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises , 2002 .

[47]  K. Atuahene–Gima,et al.  An Empirical Investigation of the Effect of Market Orientation and Entrepreneurship Orientation Alignment on Product Innovation , 2001 .

[48]  Terry S. Overton,et al.  Estimating Nonresponse Bias in Mail Surveys , 1977 .

[49]  E. Penrose,et al.  The theory of the growth of the firm twenty-five years after , 1960 .

[50]  James M. Utterback,et al.  Dominant Designs and the Survival of Firms , 1995 .

[51]  T. Madsen,et al.  The internationalization of Born Globals: An evolutionary process? , 1997 .

[52]  J. Barney.  Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage , 1991 .

[53]  G. Knight,et al.  Information Internalization and Hurdle Rates in Small and Medium Enterprise Internationalization , 1999 .

[54]  Benjamin M. Oviatt,et al.  How New Ventures Exploit Trade-Offs Among International Risk Factors: Lessons For The Accelerated Internationization Of The 21St Century , 2000 .

[55]  Alfred M. Pelham.  Influence of Environment, Strategy, and Market Orientation on Performance in Small Manufacturing Firms , 1999 .

[56]  Daniels.  International Business: Environments and Operations , 1976 .

[57]  Robert A. Peterson,et al.  First-Mover Advantage: A Synthesis, Conceptual Framework, and Research Propositions , 1992 .

[58]  S. Reid,et al.  The Decision-Maker and Export Entry and Expansion , 1981 .

[59]  Greg Kitzmiller,et al.  INTERNATIONAL MARKETING RESEARCH , 2003 .

[60]  Rohit Deshpandé,et al.  Measuring Market Orientation: Generalization and Synthesis , 1998 .

[61]  J. Steenkamp,et al.  Assessing Measurement Invariance in Cross-National Consumer Research , 1998 .

[62]  F. Webster,et al.  Organizational Culture and Marketing: Defining the Research Agenda: , 1989 .

[63]  John C. Narver,et al.  Creating a Market Orientation , 1998 .

[64]  Jin K. Han,et al.  Market Orientation and Organizational Performance: Is Innovation a Missing Link? , 1998 .

[65]  Lisa R. Klein,et al.  The Internet and International Marketing , 1996 .

[66]  Avraham Shama.  E-Coms and their marketing strategies , 2001 .

[67]  R E Miles,et al.  Organizational strategy, structure, and process. , 1978, Academy of management review. Academy of Management.

[68]  J. Johanson,et al.  The Mechanism of Internationalisation , 1990 .

[69]  L. S. Showers,et al.  The Effects of Alternative Measures of Country of Origin on Objective Product Quality , 1993 .