Internationalization of biotechnology start-ups: Geographic location and mimetic behaviour

Abstract

The objective of this article is to understand the extent to which location in a geographic cluster can explain international alliance formation. Geographic clusters are characterized by several dimensions: agglomeration economies, institutional forces and a manager’s mental models create the environment within the cluster. Therefore, to develop the research propositions, which were tested on a sample of US biotechnology start-ups, the study specifically analysed cluster size and firm competitive behaviour within the cluster to explain the propensity of a start-up to engage in new international alliances. It also examined the potential moderating effect of cluster evolution. Results show that merely being located in a geographic cluster in itself does not increase the probability of forming a new international alliance. Within clusters, internationalization of start-ups through alliance formation results mainly from mimetic behaviour.

SME internationalization modes in the German biotechnology industry: The influence of imitation, network position, and international experience

“…This finding supports institutional theorists who argue that SMEs tend to model themselves after competitors in their industry. Moreover, extending prior research (Delerue & Lejeune, 2012;Fernhaber & Li, 2010), our findings reveal that peers in a firm's network not only influence a young SME's general propensity to internationalize, but that imitative behavior is precise to the chosen internationalization mode.…”

“…Previous research has for example investigated whether firms imitate certain types of alliances popular in their industry (Delerue & Lejeune, 2012;Yeniyurt, Townsend, Cavusgil, & Ghauri, 2009). However, research so far has less emphasized how exactly firms imitate internationalization patterns when exposed to a range of different internationalization patterns in their environment.…”

Functional and contextual dimensions of INVs’ alliance partner selection

“…Fernhaber and Li (2013) found that older ventures benefit more from exposure to international alliance partners while younger ventures are more influenced by international exposure from geographically proximate firms; however, for new ventures, both types of network relationships positively influence their internationalization. Delerue and Lejeune (2012) argue, however, that being located in a geographic cluster in itself does not increase the probability of forming new international alliances; mimetic behavior among members of a cluster does. Other authors cast doubt on the ability of strategic alliances to influence early internationalization or the performance of smaller firms (Li et al 2012) but state that the different resources and competences the alliance furnishes may influence the internationalization process.…”

A pilot study on the internationalization of Taiwanese agri-biotech SMEs: A Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) perspective

“…Pertinent literature on the biotechnology industry elucidates that clusters enhance the competitive advantage of the firms. SMEs in particular recognize the value of clustering in terms of developing increased foreign partnerships and of the additional exposure to global markets that comes with that [19,20].…”