Abstract
Knight and Cavusgil’s Journal of International Business Studies Decade Award-winning article offers numerous contributions to international business research. As one example, it advances cross-disciplinary conversation about entrepreneurial internationalization. A critical review of their study reveals, however, that certain findings require reinterpretation. This commentary does so, discussing the resultant implications and the question of when it is (in)appropriate to use the term “born global”. Parts of Knight and Cavusgil are then used as a foundation to identify research questions at the level of the firm. Finally, points from Cavusgil and Knight’s retrospective are used to argue that we need greater understanding of the individual(s) that are central to the firm’s internationalization behaviour. Suggestions for research are made by drawing on concepts and theory from the entrepreneurship, innovation and psychology literatures.
Notes
The distinction between ‘Marketing Skills in International Markets’ and IMO appears to be recognized in Knight and Kim (2009).
References
Aspelund, A., & Moen, Ø. 2005. Small international firms: Typology, performance and implications. Management International Review, 45 (3): 37–57.
Autio, E. 2005. Creative tension: The significance of Ben Oviatt’s and Patricia McDougall’s article “Toward a theory of international new ventures”. Journal of International Business Studies, 36 (1): 9–19.
Autio, E., George, G., & Alexy, O. 2011. International entrepreneurship and capability development – Qualitative evidence and future research directions. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 35 (1): 11–37.
Autio, E., Sapienza, H. J., & Almeida, J. G. 2000. Effects of age at entry, knowledge intensity and imitability on international growth. Academy of Management Journal, 43 (5): 909–924.
Bell, J., McNaughton, R., & Young, S. 2001. “Born-again global” firms: An extension to the “born global” phenomenon. Journal of International Management, 7 (3): 173–189.
Birkinshaw, J., Brannen, M. Y., & Tung, R. L. 2011. From a distance and generalizable to up close and grounded: Reclaiming a place for qualitative methods in international business research. Journal of International Business Studies, 42 (5): 573–581.
Breugst, N., Domurath, A., Patzelt, H., & Klaukien, A. 2012. Perceptions of entrepreneurial passion and employees’ commitment to entrepreneurial ventures. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 36 (1): 171–192.
Bruneel, J., Yli-Renko, H., & Clarysse, B. 2010. Learning from experience and learning from others: How congenital and inter-organizational learning substitute for experiential learning in young firm internationalization. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 4 (2): 164–182.
Cardon, M. S., Gregoire, D. A., Stevens, C. E., & Patel, P. C. 2013. Measuring entrepreneurial passion: Conceptual foundations and scale validation. Journal of Business Venturing, 28 (3): 373–396.
Casillas, J. C., & Acedo, F. J. 2013. Speed in the internationalization process of the firm. International Journal of Management Reviews, 15 (1): 15–29.
Cavusgil, S. T., & Knight, G. 2015. The born global firm: An entrepreneurial and capabilities perspective on early and rapid internationalization. Journal of International Business Studies, 46 (1): 3–16.
Cavusgil, S. T., & Zou, S. 1994. Marketing strategy-performance relationship: An investigation of the empirical link in export market ventures. Journal of Marketing, 58 (1): 1–21.
Chandra, Y., & Coviello, N. 2010. Broadening the concept of international entrepreneurship: “Consumers as international entrepreneurs”. Journal of World Business, 45 (3): 228–236.
Chen, X.-P., Yao, X., & Kotha, S. 2009. Entrepreneurial passion and preparedness in business plan presentations: A persuasion analysis of venture capitalists’ funding decisions. Academy of Management Journal, 52 (1): 199–214.
Chetty, S., Johanson, M., & Martín Martín, O. 2014. Speed of internationalization: Conceptualization, measurement and validation. Journal of World Business, 49 (4): 633–650.
Coviello, N. 2005. Integrating qualitative and quantitative techniques in network analysis. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 8 (1): 39–60.
Coviello, N. E., & Jones, M. V. 2004. Methodological issues in international entrepreneurship research. Journal of Business Venturing, 19 (4): 485–508.
Coviello, N. E., & Munro, H. J. 1997. Network relationships and the internationalisation process of small software firms. International Business Review, 6 (4): 361–386.
Coviello, N. E., McDougall, P., & Oviatt, B. M. 2011. The emergence, advance and future of international entrepreneurship research: An introduction to the special forum. Journal of Business Venturing, 26 (6): 625–631.
Covin, J., & Miller, D. 2014. International entrepreneurial orientation: Conceptual considerations, research themes, measurement issues and future research directions. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 31 (1): 11–44.
Covin, J. G., & Slevin, D. 1989. Strategic management of small firms in hostile and benign environments. Strategic Management Journal, 10 (1): 75–87.
de Clercq, D., Sapienza, H. J., & Crijns, H. 2005. The internationalization of small and medium-sized firms. Small Business Economics, 24 (4): 409–419.
Dimitratos, P., Johnson, J., Slow, J., & Young, S. 2003. Micro-multinationals: New types of firms for the global competitive landscape. European Management Journal, 21 (2): 164–174.
Eesley, C. E., & Roberts, E. B. 2012. Are you experienced or are you talented? When does innate talent versus experience explain entrepreneurial performance? Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 6 (3): 207–219.
Ellis, P. 2011. Social ties and international entrepreneurship: Opportunities and constraints affecting firm internationalization. Journal of International Business Studies, 42 (1): 99–127.
Engle, R. L., Dimitriadi, N., Gavidia, J. V., Schlaegel, C., Delanoe, S., Alvarado, I., He, X., Buame, S., & Wolff, B. 2010. Entrepreneurial intent: A twelve-country evaluation of Ajzen’s model of planned behavior. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, 61 (1): 35–57.
Engle, R. L., & Nehrt, C. C. 2012. Antecedents of cultural intelligence: The role of risk, control and openness in France and the United States. Journal of Management Policy and Practice, 13 (5): 35–47.
Evald, M. R., Klyver, K., & Christensen, P. R. 2011. The effect of human capital, social capital and perceptual values on nascent entrepreneurs’ export intentions. Journal of International Entrepreneurship, 9 (1): 1–19.
Filatotchev, I., Liu, X., Buck, T., & Wright, M. 2009. The export orientation and export performance of high-technology SMEs in emerging markets: The effects of knowledge transfer by returnee entrepreneurs. Journal of International Business Studies, 40 (8): 1005–1021.
Fiol, C. M., & Romanelli, E. 2012. Before identity: The emergence of new organizational forms. Organization Science, 23 (3): 597–611.
Frishammar, J., & Andersson, S. 2009. The overestimated role of strategic orientations for international performance in smaller firms. Journal of International Entrepreneurship, 7 (1): 57–77.
Ganotakis, P., & Love, J. H. 2012. Export propensity, export intensity and firm performance: The role of the entrepreneurial founding team. Journal of International Business Studies, 43 (8): 693–718.
Grant, R. M. 1996. Prospering in dynamically-competitive environments: Organizational capability as knowledge integration. Organization Science, 7 (4): 375–387.
Hambrick, D. C., & Mason, P. A. 1984. Upper echelons: The organization as a reflection of its top managers. Academy of Management Review, 9 (2): 193–206.
Hmieleski, K. M., Corbett, A. C., & Baron, R. A. 2013. Entrepreneurs’ improvisational behavior and firm performance: A study of dispositional and environmental moderators. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 7 (2): 138–150.
Hurmerinta-Peltomäki, L., & Nummela, N. 2006. Mixed methods in international business research: A value-added perspective. Management International Review, 46 (4): 439–459.
Im, S., Montoya, M. M., & Workman Jr., J. P. 2013. Antecedents and consequences of creativity in product innovation teams. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 30 (1): 170–185.
Jantunen, A., Nummela, N., Puumalainen, K., & Saarenketo, S. 2008. Strategic orientations of born globals – Do they really matter? Journal of World Business, 43 (2): 158–170.
Javalgi, R. G., & Todd, P. R. 2011. Entrepreneurial orientation, management commitment and human capital: The internationalization of SMEs in India. Journal of Business Research, 64 (9): 1004–1010.
Johanson, J., & Vahlne, J.-E. 2009. The Uppsala internationalization process model revisited: From liability of foreigness to liability of outsidership. Journal of Business Studies, 40 (9): 1411–1431.
Jones, M. V. 1999. The internationalization of small high-technology firms. Journal of International Marketing, 7 (4): 15–41.
Jones, M. V., & Casulli, L. 2014. International entrepreneurship: Exploring the logic and utility of individual experience through comparative reasoning approaches. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 38 (1): 45–69.
Jones, M. V., & Coviello, N. E. 2005. Internationalisation: Conceptualising an entrepreneurial process of behaviour in time. Journal of International Business Studies, 36 (3): 284–303.
Jones, M. V., Coviello, N. E., & Tang, Y. W. 2011. International entrepreneurship research (1989–2009): A domain ontology and thematic analysis. Journal of Business Venturing, 26 (6): 632–659.
Khandwalla, P. 1977. The Design of Organizations. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Knight, G. A., & Cavusgil, S. T. 2004. Innovation, organizational capabilities, and the born-global firm. Journal of International Business Studies, 35 (2): 124–141.
Knight, G. A., & Kim, D. 2009. International business competence and the contemporary firm. Journal of International Business Studies, 40 (2): 255–273.
Kohli, A. K., & Jaworski, B. J. 1990. Market orientation: The construct, research propositions, and managerial implications. Journal of Marketing, 54 (2): 1–18.
Kuivalainen, O., Saarenketo, S., & Puumalainen, K. 2012. Start-up patterns of internationalization: A framework and its application in the context of knowledge-intensive SMEs. European Management Journal, 30 (4): 372–385.
Kuivalainen, O., Sundqvist, S., & Servais, P. 2007. Firms’ degree of born-globalness, international entrepreneurial orientation and export performance. Journal of World Business, 42 (3): 253–267.
Loane, S., Bell, J., & McNaughton, R. 2007. A cross-national study on the impact of management teams on the rapid internationalization of small firms. Journal of World Business, 42 (4): 489–504.
Lopez, L. E., Kundu, S. K., & Ciravegna, L. 2009. Born global or born regional? Evidence from an exploratory study in the Costa Rican software industry. Journal of International Business Studies, 40 (7): 1228–1238.
Madsen, T. K. 2013. Early and rapidly internationalizing ventures: Similarities and differences between classifications based on the original international new venture and born global literatures. Journal of International Entrepreneurship, 11 (1): 65–79.
Mathews, J. A. 2006. Dragon multinationals: New players in 21st century globalization. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 23 (1): 5–27.
Matsuno, K., Mentzer, J. T., & Özsomer, A. 2002. The effects of entrepreneurial proclivity and market orientation on business performance. Journal of Marketing, 66 (3): 18–32.
McKee, D., Jeffery, C., Varadarajan, R. P., & Michael, M. 1992. Success-producer and failure-preventer marketing skills: A social learning theory interpretation. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 20 (1): 17–26.
Miller, D., & Friesen, P. H. 1984. Organizations: A quantum view. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Mitchell, J. R., & Shepherd, D. A. 2010. To thine own self be true: Images of self, images of opportunity, and entrepreneurial action. Journal of Business Venturing, 25 (1): 138–154.
Narver, J. C., & Slater, S. F. 1990. The effect of a market orientation on business profitability. Journal of Marketing, 54 (4): 20–35.
Nelson, R., & Winter, S. 1982. An evolutionary theory of economic change. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.
Nordman, E. R., & Melén, S. 2008. The impact of different kinds of knowledge for the internationalization process of born globals in the biotech business. Journal of World Business, 43 (2): 171–185.
Oviatt, B. M., & McDougall, P. P. 1994. Toward a theory of international new ventures. Journal of International Business Studies, 25 (1): 45–64.
Oviatt, B. M., & McDougall, P. P. 2005. Defining international entrepreneurship and modeling the speed of internationalization. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 29 (5): 537–553.
Prashantham, S., & Dhanaraj, C. 2010. The dynamic influence of social capital on international growth of new ventures. Journal of Management Studies, 47 (6): 967–994.
Prashantham, S., & Floyd, S. W. 2012. Routine microprocesses and capability learning in international new ventures. Journal of International Business Studies, 43 (6): 544–562.
Rennie, M. W. 1993. Global competitiveness: Born global. The McKinsey Quarterly, 4 (1): 45–52.
Reuber, A. R., & Fischer, E. 1997. The influence of the management team’s international experience on the internationalization behaviors of SMEs. Journal of International Business Studies, 28 (4): 807–825.
Sapienza, H. J., Autio, E., George, G., & Zahra, S. A. 2006. A capabilities perspective on the effects of early internationalization on firm survival and growth. Academy of Management Review, 31 (4): 914–933.
Sarasvathy, S. D. 2001. Causation and effectuation: Toward a theoretical shift from economic inevitability to entrepreneurial contingency. Academy of Management Review, 26 (2): 243–263.
Sarasvathy, S., Kumar, K., York, J. G., & Bhagavatula, S. 2014. An effectual approach to international entrepreneurship: Overlaps, challenges and provocative possibilities. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 38 (1): 71–93.
Schwens, C., & Kabst, R. 2009. How early opposed to late internationalizers learn: Experience of others and paradigms of interpretation. International Business Review, 18 (5): 509–522.
Simon, M., & Shrader, R. C. 2012. Entrepreneurial actions and optimistic overconfidence: The role of motivated reasoning in new product introductions. Journal of Business Venturing, 27 (3): 291–309.
Sommer, L. 2010. Internationalization process of small and medium-sized enterprises: A matter of attitude? Journal of International Enterpreneurship, 45 (3): 288–317.
Sullivan, D. P., & Daniels, J.D. 2008. Innovation in international business research: A call for multiple paradigms. Journal of International Business Studies, 39 (6): 1081–1090.
Teece, D. J. 2014. A dynamic capabilities-based entrepreneurial theory of the multinational enterprise. Journal of International Business Studies, 45 (1): 8–37.
Wennberg, K., Pathak, S., & Autio, E. 2013. How culture moulds the effects of self-efficacy and fear of failure on entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 25 (9–10): 756–780.
Wright, R. W., & Ricks, D. A. 1994. Trends in international business research: Twenty-five years later. Journal of International Business Studies, 25 (4): 687–701.
Yli-Renko, H., Autio, E., & Tontti, V. 2002. Social capital, knowledge, and the international growth of technology-based new firms. International Business Review, 11 (3): 279–304.
Zahra, S. A. 2005. A theory of international new ventures: A decade of research. Journal of International Business Studies, 36 (1): 20–28.
Zahra, S., Ireland, R. D., & Hitt, M. A. 2000. International expansion by new venture firms: International diversity, mode of market entry, technological learning and performance. Academy of Management Journal, 43 (5): 925–950.
Acknowledgements
I thank Marian Jones, Patricia McDougall-Covin, Maija Renko and Christian Schwens for their helpful suggestions on this commentary. Thanks also go to participants at the 2014 JIBS Decade Award session at the Academy of International Business meetings in Vancouver, John Cantwell, and two anonymous JIBS reviewers.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Accepted by John Cantwell, Editor-in-Chief. This paper was single-blind reviewed.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Coviello, N. Re-thinking research on born globals. J Int Bus Stud 46, 17–26 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1057/jibs.2014.59
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/jibs.2014.59