We investigate born-global firms as early adopters of internationalization – that is, companies that expand into foreign markets and exhibit international business prowess and superior performance, from or near their founding. Our explication highlights the critical role of innovative culture, as well as knowledge and capabilities, in this unique breed of international, entrepreneurial firm. Case studies are analyzed to better understand the early internationalization phenomenon and reveal key orientations and strategies that engender international success among these innovative firms. Case findings are then validated in a survey-based study. Despite the scarce resources typical of young firms, our findings reveal that born-global firms leverage a distinctive mix of orientations and strategies that allow them to succeed in diverse international markets. Findings have important implications for the internationalization of contemporary firms.

/pdf/innovation-organizational-capabilities-and-the-born-global-4c1llrvdxw.pdf

Innovation, organizational capabilities, and the born-global firm

Firms interested in servicing foreign markets face a difficult decision with regards to the choice of an entry mode. The options available to a firm include exporting, licensing, joint venture and sole venture. Several factors that determine the choice of a specific foreign market entry mode have been identified in previous literature. These factors can be classified into three categories: ownership advantages of a firm, location advantages of a market, and internalization advantages of integrating transactions. This study examines the independent and joint influences of these factors on the choice of an entry mode. Multinomial logistic regression model is employed to test the hypothesized effects.

/pdf/choice-of-foreign-market-entry-mode-impact-of-ownership-m7fizm2aaa.pdf

Choice of Foreign Market Entry Mode: Impact of Ownership, Location and Internalization Factors

Global strategy has recently emerged as a popular concept among managers of multinational corporations as well as among researchers and students in the field of international management. This paper presents a conceptual framework encompassing a range of different issues relevant to global strategies. The framework provides a basis for organizing existing literature on the topic and for creating a map of the field. Such a map can be useful for teaching and also for guiding future research in this area. The article, however, is primarily directed at managers of multinational corporations, and is aimed at providing them with a basis for relating and synthesizing the different perspectives and prescriptions that are currently available for global strategic management.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2486231.pdf

Global strategy: An organizing framework

The mechanisms of coordination used by Multinational Corporations (MNCs) are studied, through an exhaustive literature review. A pattern of evolution is found: as time has passed, researchers have concentrated more on subtler and informal mechanisms, abandoning their unidimensional focus on structural issues. It is suggested that the increase in the study of those mechanisms may be due, among other reasons, to the fact that MNCs are indeed making more use of them. That could be explained by changes in the international competitive environment, which force firms to adjust their strategies, requiring ever more multidimensional coordination.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/palgrave_jibs_8490370.pdf?abstractid=1800521&mirid=2

The Evolution of Research on Coordination Mechanisms in Multinational Corporations

What We Know and Don't Know About Online Word-of-Mouth: A Review and Synthesis of the Literature

Chinese perceptions of machinery suppliers from six countries are used to evaluate supplier strategies and the customer relationships formed. Strategies based on product quality and service had the greatest impact on preferences. The relationship formed seemed to reflect mainly the perceived value of the product service-package offered. “Friendship” in the traditional Chinese sense did not seem to be a strong characteristic of these relationships.

Selling Machinery to China: Chinese Perceptions of Strategies and Relationships

During the past 20 years there has been a drastic change in management's perception of the firm relative to its environment. Peter Drucker and Theodore Levitt signalled the beginning of this change when in the early 1960's they admonished management to shed its \"market myopia\" to make a broad assessment of the environment and to determine \"what business the firm is in\". They suggested that changes in demand, technological breakthroughs and new competition called for periodic reorientation. Progressive firms responded by developing and applying a new management technique called strategic planning. It involved the purposeful matching of business environment with the firm'£ own resources and capabilities with a view to defining the \"business\". Management spoke of identifying the common thread, the core competence or the strengths and weaknesses which would, together with environmental factors, comprise the basis for the new orientation. With the upsurge of the merger movement and the expansion of the conglomerate form of enterprise it became evident that for many companies it was not a matter of which business but which businesses. Increasingly, top management became concerned less with individual threads and more with the combination and balance of threads across the various lines of endeavour comprising the total organization. Thus a portfolio problem

Strategic Portfolio Management

European research in international business

To learn more about Rowman & Littlefield titles please visit us at www.rowmanlittlefield.com.

James C. Leontiades

Papers

Selling Machinery to China: Chinese Perceptions of Strategies and Relationships

Strategic Portfolio Management

European research in international business

Multinational corporate strategy: Planning for world markets

Multinational Corporate Strategy