Toward a Typology of Commitment States among Managers of Born-Global Firms: A Study of Accelerated Internationalization

Abstract

Substantial scholarly work has shed much light on the development of a contemporary global environment—namely, the phenomenon of born-global firms. These young entrepreneurial firms, which take on internationalization early in their evolution, are now found in large numbers in most economies, especially in smaller, saturated, developed markets. In this article, the authors advance some theoretical explanations regarding the behavior of these firms. In the current Australian case-based study, rather than engaging in a firm-level analysis, the authors focus on the attitudinal orientations of senior management in this new breed of internationally active firms. In contrast to an incremental approach, the authors offer a theoretical explanation that integrates the network perspective and resource-based view with international entrepreneurship. Their exploration of the managerial mind-set of these smaller born-global firms leads to the identification of four states of commitment to accelerated internationalization by top management. Delineating these states should assist managers in achieving their accelerated internationalization objectives. Any of the four attitudinal mind-sets facilitates internationalization, but the strategist state adopts a more benevolent, collaborative behavioral stance designed to preserve key relationships. The strategist also avoids the short-term orientation, competitiveness, and self-interest of the responder, the opportunist, and the experimentalist.

Acceleration and Deceleration in the Internationalization Process of the Firm

“…Since Johanson and Vahlne's work, other perspectives on commitment have emerged (Freeman and Cavusgil 2007;Hadjikhani 1997;Sharma et al 2006;Blankenburg Holm et al 1999), reflecting the attitudes and interests of the managers as well as intangible assets and skills invested in foreign markets, business relations, and networks. Those types of commitment may better capture the internationalization of knowledge-and service-intensive firms, as many of the theories build on the implicit assumption that firms produce and sell physical products.…”

Determinantes das Estratégias Internacionais de Adaptação e Diferenciação de PME´s

“…Ainda sobre esse entendimento, a experiência adquirida propicia aos gestores o conhecimento necessário para controlar o nível de envolvimento internacional da empresa (Freeman & Cavusgil, 2007) já que exportadores inexperientes são mais propensos a precisarem de assistência para fortalecer seus recursos e obterem êxito no processo de internacionalização (Francis & Collins-Dodd, 2000).…”

Los recursos humanos en las nuevas empresas internacionales. El papel del engagement

“…Las NEI no son un fenómeno que se dé únicamente a nivel local, sino que se puede observar en diferentes países (Almor, 2011;Baum, Schwens y Kabst, 2011;Madsen, 2013;Gabrielsson, Gabrielsson y Dimitratos, 2014;Nummela et al, 2014), especialmente en países pequeños, desarrollados y con mercados saturados (Freeman y Cavusgil, 2007). Estas empresas suelen originarse más en economías pequeñas y abiertas (Fan y Phan, 2007), constituyendo un conjunto importante de empresas en estas economías (Madsen, Rasmussen y Servais, 2000;Moen, 2002;McNaughton, 2003).…”

“…Además, seguiremos las recomendaciones de Yin (2014), ya que también es uno de los autores más habitualmente citados en los trabajos cualitativos (Andersson y Evangelista, 2006;Freeman y Cavusgil, 2007;Crick, 2009;Evers, 2011;Evers, Andersson y Hannibal, 2012;Sepulveda y Gabrielsson, 2013;Gabrielson, Gabrielson y Dimitratos, 2014;Nummela et al, 2014;Trudgen y Freeman, 2014).…”

“…De hecho, las investigaciones llevadas a cabo demuestran cómo estas empresas forman un segmento cada vez más importante de la economía moderna (Rennie, 1993;Burgel y Murray, 2000), con una gran presencia dentro del conjunto de empresas internacionales (Moen y Servais, 2002;Knight y Cavusgil, 2004). Además, estas empresas están incrementando su importancia y predominio en la competencia internacional (Aspelund y Moen, 2001; Aspelund, Madsen y Moen, 2007).Las NEI no son un fenómeno que se dé únicamente a nivel local, sino que se puede observar en diferentes países (Almor, 2011;Baum, Schwens y Kabst, 2011;Madsen, 2013;Gabrielsson, Gabrielsson y Dimitratos, 2014;Nummela et al, 2014), especialmente en países pequeños, desarrollados y con mercados saturados (Freeman y Cavusgil, 2007). Estas empresas suelen originarse más en economías pequeñas y abiertas (Fan y Phan, 2007), constituyendo un conjunto importante de empresas en estas economías (Madsen, Rasmussen y Servais, 2000;Moen, 2002;McNaughton, 2003).…”