Purpose – This study aims to investigate how mature born global firms create value for customers to achieve continued international growth.

Design/methodology/approach – The study employs a case study approach to investigate the underresearched area of how mature born globals create value for customers and, by doing so, contribute to their continued international growth. This in-depth examination of how three born globals developed over time uses interviews, observation and secondary data.

Findings – The findings indicate that the entrepreneurs of born global firms, that continued to grow, created a culture in the early stages that supported value creation for foreign customers. These firms have built a competitive position by developing international niche products. They have also implemented a combination of proactive and reactive market orientation to facilitate the creation and delivery of value to customers. To maintain growth, they further invest the revenues earned on additional international marketing activities and continuously enhance their focal products.

Research limitations/implications – The study relies on three cases. We therefore recommend that future studies extend the scope of the research to several companies in various industries and countries, in which the theoretical arguments can be applied. In addition, further studies that test the propositions developed in this study, in different contexts, are highly recommended.

Practical implications – To gain international growth, managers should create an organizational culture that facilitates satisfying international customer needs. Firms should continuously invest in sales and market development (e.g. social media marketing, personal selling) and undertake technology development of niche rather than new products. To achieve international growth, managers need to standardize part of the offer to achieve economies of scale and adapt the other part to international customers’ needs.

Originality/value – Research on born globals has focused on the early stages of their internationalization processes, while largely neglecting the later stages (mature born globals) or the factors that lead to continued international growth. To address this gap, this study explores what happens when born globals ‘grow up’. This study contributes to the literature by capturing the factors and processes underlying how mature born globals create value for customers, for international growth. In particular, the study shows that the culture and strategies developed in the born globals’ early stages also lead to international growth in later stages. The mature born globals have also invested in niche products, brand building, and effective market channels and adopted a combination of proactive and reactive market orientations. © 2019 Emerald Publishing Limited

Branding has for a long time been in focus in strategic decision making for firms in a business-to-consumer context. Brands has been used as a tool to differentiate products and position firms’ offers towards competitors. In a business-to business context branding has not been in focus in the same way. Strategic decisions have more dealt with technology innovation and market expansions. In recent times, a greater interest for brand building in a business to business (B2B) context has emerged, both in practice and academia, especially for globally active B2B firms that strive to create a unified look of their products and firms. The hard global competition has made it difficult to compete on product quality alone, services around the product and intangible features has been important parts of B2B firms’ offers. The B2B firms’ more complex offers can be incorporated under a common brand that differentiates the firms’ offer from competitors. Although that the practical importance of B2B branding has been acknowledge lately, research dealing with B2B branding is still relatively limited. Most studies on B2B branding attempt to describe what brands are, how they affect companies, or vice versa. Research on the process of B2B brand building is however scarce. Also, when B2B brands are in focus of a study, it is usually their tangible characteristics that are examined. In B2C brand literature, intangible aspects and, the metaphor to see the brand as a person is widely discussed (Aaker, 1997). However, there is very little research on brand as a person element in the B2B context. Brand personality is normally defined as the human characteristics associated with a brand, More research into the brand personality building processes in a B2B context are therefore needed. Following the above discussion this study’s aim is to investigate how brand personality is built in B2B companies.

A qualitative approach has been adopted to enable us to investigate, in-depth, an under-researched area (Ghauri and Gronhaug, 2010; and Yin, 1989) The key factor underpinning the selection of the two cases was conceptual relevance rather than representative grounds, so we used theoretical sampling (Miles and Huberman 1994). We combined secondary data research and field interviews and workshops with the CEOs in the case firms. The researchers constructed an interview-guide based on earlier literature and discussion in a workshop. Our aim and research question served as the basic structure for data analysis.  The study contributes to the literature by integrating theory on brand building from the marketing fields with the research dealing with the born global phenomenon discussed in the international entrepreneurship field.

INTRODUCTION

Research on firms that already from their inception see the whole world as a market and/or the whole world as a source to access resources, so called born globals (Andersson & Wictor, 2003, Knight & Cavusgil, 2004; Cavusgil & Knight, 2015), has been growing during the last decades  (Servantie, 2016). Born globals are an especially interesting group of firms to study, in regard of value creation, as they have been able to create competitive offers fulfilling the needs of customers on global markets.

 The distinguishing feature of born globals is their international behaviour at birth and soon thereafter. The firms’ behaviour is initiated by the entrepreneurs’ and management’s global mindset and the commitment of resources leading to international growth (Andersson, 2000; Knight & Causgil, 2004). Born globals is, by definition, a born global firm “forever”, as has been characterized by their early years.  We argue that the early years make these firms a special type of firms that will influence their further international development. Firms with a long-term focus on the domestic market must unlearn routines rooted in the domestic context before new, internationally oriented routines can be learned. An early entrance to international markets forces born globals to adopt to new contexts and create new knowledge that leads to new routines and creates a culture in the firms to adapt to new international opportunities (Andersson & Evers, 2015; Autio et al ., 2000, Cavusgil & Knight, 2004).

There has been extensive research on born globals’ internationalization dealing with which markets, and market channels firms should choose to grow internationally. There has also been extensive research dealing with antecedents and factors influencing these choices. The focus on born global research has also been on the very early stages in the internationalization process. Few studies have captured the long-term behaviour and growth of born globals (2008; Gabrielsson and Gabrielsson, 2013, Melen Hånell, Nordman and Sharma, 2014). A question that has been very little addressed is: what happens to born global firms when they grow up (Cavusgil & Knight, 2015)? In this study we define this grown up born global firms as mature born globals (c. f. Hagen & Zuchella, 2014, maturing born global firms). To succeed with a continued international expansion, the born global firms need to increase sales on international markets. The underlying reason for success on international markets and continuous growth is that the mature born global firms have an offer that gives higher value to the customer than their competitors. However customer value is not explicitly treated in internationalization theories (Axinn & Matthyssen, 2002). To our knowledge there has not been any research that has, in- depth, explored how mature born globals create value for customers to create international growth. In line with the above discussion, the aim of this study is to investigate how mature born global firms create value for customers to create international growth.

METHOD

A qualitative approach has been adopted to enable us to investigate, in-depth, an under-researched area (Ghauri and Gronhaug, 2010; and Yin, 1989) “how born global firms create value for customers to create international growth”. In all, the study was conducted with five companies. The key factor underpinning the selection of the five cases was conceptual relevance rather than representative grounds, so we used theoretical sampling (Miles and Huberman 1994). We conducted a review of annual reports, other secondary documentation, and the websites of the case firms. We combined secondary data research and field interviews and workshops with the CEOs in the case firms. The researchers constructed an interview-guide based on earlier literature and discussion on a works-shop. Interviews were carried out with the five CEOs and transcribed. Data analysis included several steps. The information from the interviews, and other sources served as descriptive narratives, which helped us process the large volume of data (Mintzberg and McHugh 1985). This process enabled the unique patterns of each case to emerge before cross-case comparison (Eisenhardt 1989; Yin 1994) was undertaken. Our aim and research question served as the basic structure for data analysis.

CONCLUSIONS

We conclude that a strong focus on customer value creation was in focus. To create customer value a combination of proactive and reactive market orientation was implemented built on a competitive offer that was hard to replicate. Depending on the characteristics of the buyer-seller relationship different tools were used to build relationship value. The revenue earned is invested in further international growth, by investing in market driving activities, and entrepreneurial alertness to act on upcoming opportunities was crucial. This study contributes to the international entrepreneurship field by explicitly including marketing literature and empirically investigating how value is created to achieve international growth in born globals. This study also contributes to the industrial marketing field by developing a model that shows how born global firms create value for international customers to generate international growth in a B2B context.

The aim of this paper is to investigate how born global firms co-operate with local and international network actors to provide innovations for international growth, Consequently, born globals’ use of their own innovation capabilities, stemming from firm-specific advantages, and their access to complementary resources and activities of their network partners, termed here as network capabilities, are analyzed to aid our understanding of the provision of innovative solutions that lead to firms’ international growth. The paper opted for an exploratory study, using a qualitative case study approach of five born global companies. Focus groups, work-shops and interviews with the entrepreneur-CEOs in the companies are used to gain deep insight into innovation and internationalization processes that underlie the case companies’ international growth. The study shows that the entrepreneur-CEOs’ networking and innovation capabilities, have been crucial for the born global firms international growth. A high responsiveness to changes in the environment and incremental rather than radical innovation characterize the firms’ growth. A fruitful relationship between the Born Globals and other actors is crucial for them to be able to get access to resources, which can complement their own to create innovative solutions that will lead to growth. 

Importance and key contribution

Research on firm’s that already from inception see the whole world as a market and/or the whole world as a source to access resources, so called born globals (Andersson & Wictor, 2003), have been growing during the last decades (Jones, Coviello and Tang, 2012).  These firms are characterized of innovative business models that are competitive on the global market already from inception (Hennart, 2013). To succeed with a continued international expansion, the born global firms need to adapt their respective business models for a more complex environment; in more institutionally remote markets. The continued growth phase of born globals are scarcely treated in earlier research (Gabrielsson & Gabrielsson, 2013).

Earlier studies on Born Globals have focused on Born Globals’ development in western, developed countries. Therefore there is a need to examine Born Globals’ activities on emerging markets (Kiss et al, 2012). The attractiveness and growth opportunities in emerging markets are perceived to be higher than what obtains in other conceivable markets of the world (Cavusgil, Knight, and Risenberger, 2012).

Important in this stage is handle relationship with different stakeholders on a global base. An important tool to handle this relationship is the companies’ branding strategy. Few studies have combined research on born globals’ internationalization and branding (Gabrielsson, 2005) and there is a need to further develop the knowledge about branding and international growth. This study aims to explore how born global companies are using brand management when growing on emerging markets. This study contributes to the international entrepreneurship field by exploring growth on emerging markets, it also contributes by adding knowledge from the brand management field to explore international growth.

Theoretical base

In recent studies the “global” part in the BG has been criticized (Lopez, Kundu and Ciravegena, 2009, Rugman and Almodovar, 2011). Some researchers argue that there a very few really Born Global firms with activities in the three economic and political power bases in the world. NAFTA, EU and the largest eight Asia-Pacific economies (Rugman and Almodovar, 2011). Implicit in research on Born Global firms is that distance (geographic, psychic, cultural, and institutional) is no longer an important issue when the international behaviour and international performance in a Born Global is discussed. We argue that the reason for that is a bias in the research treating Born Global firms with focus on companies that both have their origin and target markets in high-developed economies. Peiris, Akoorie and Sinha (2012) showed that most studies on Born Global firm were done on firms originating in developed countries and only a few studies were done on firms from emerging countries. Studies from emerging countries mainly were done on Chinese firms and very few studies has treated firms from Middle east, Africa or South Asia. Another reason why the Born Global research has not focused on institutional differences can partly be explained by the fact that the Born Global studies have looked internally at firm-specific factors (e.g. using resource-based view and knowledge-based view of the firm as a theoretical domain) (Andersson, Evers and Kuivalainen, 2014; Knight and Cavusgil, 2004).

We argue that institutional differences affect Born Globals’ international behaviour (scope, speed, and entry mode); and to investigate how institutional distances affect Born Global firms, it is important to include nations with a variety of institutional and cultural characteristics. Born Global firms from developed countries entering institutionally distant markets will meet a context that is different from their home markets. Regulations, culture etc. differ and relationships are often fewer and weaker than, the companies’ relationships with western companies.  Born Global companies from developed countries still first focus on other developed countries, followed by emerging markets (e. g China and Brazil). We argue that institutional distance still matters and that firms from developed countries still have more and stronger networks in other developed countries. More research is needed two explore how this influence Born Global firms’ internationalization processes.

Most studies on born globals have focused on firms in a business-to business context. Also this study is focusing on this sector. Even if most brand management studies have focus on business-to consumer sectors, there is an increasing stream of literature that has shown the importance of brand management also in business-to business settings (Gabrielsson & Gabrielsson, 2005). Brands are used to build relationships with customers. In emerging markets, western companies have fewer and weaker relationships, as the distance is longer (see the discussion above. Research is needed to explore how brand management can be used to create and sustain relationships on emerging markets. The above discussion lead us to the following research questions.

Research questions

How do born globals manage the organization’s international growth in in emerging markets?

Which role has brand management to create and sustain relationships with internal and external stakeholders on emerging markets?

Method and Findings

Emprical data will be gathered during the Spring 2015. A case approach is considered as the most appropriate to catch the complexity of value creating process in international network context (Yin, 1994). The case study approach is under-represented in studies about internationalization and has been recommended as a fruitful way to expand the knowledge in this area (e.g Andersson, 2000, Cavusgil, 1980). Eisenhardt (1989) recommends case studies as a fruitful way to give a deeper insight in conflicting literature, as well as sharpening the generalizability of different theoretical standpoints which is an important goal in this study. There is a need to learn more about special types of firms and not only to look for the average firm (Andriani and McKelvey, 2007). The close relationship already established with the firms will make it possible to receive information that is hard to get access to with other methods (Welch et al, 2002).

The cases will be built built on action research in co-operation with the partner firms, work-shops, personal interviews and observations but complemented with secondary data, such as, annual reports and internal documents. The individuals who have the greatest influence on the internationalization processes will be interviewed. Interviews and observations will lead to the identification of individuals/actors who are central in the international value creating processes. This includes actors outside the focal company, such as customers, suppliers, and co-operation partners. Our long co-operation with the companies has created trustful relationship between the researchers and the company representatives.

The analysis of the data will include several steps. The information from interviews and other sources will be written down in descriptive narratives. This process allows the researcher to become intimately familiar with each case and allows the unique patterns of each case to emerge before cross-case comparison (Eisenhardt, 1989). The analysis will be carried out together with companies and results will be a base for decisions in each companies as well as part in academic research.

Patterns will be identified among the cases (Yin, 1994). Earlier theoretical findings will be compared with the international development in the cases. Thereafter, the theory will be revised and the findings examined again. The reasoning is, in other words, not entirely inductive or deductive (Yin 1989). Following Eisenhardt’s (1989) recommendations, the analysis will include several iterations between theory and data.

Implications

The study will also give knowledge about pros and cons with different localisation alternatives on emerging markets. It is easy to just follow management trends (everyone should out-source production and buy supplies from China) and “go with the flock” instead of get knowledge of different alternatives. The comparison between the different firms will increase the knowledge about when different alternatives are suitable.

This paper aims at investigating the way in which digital technologies affect the internationalisation of businesses and how digital transformation can be incorporated into current theories of internationalisation and international entrepreneurship (IE).

In order to define how digitalisation has been treated in the academic literature on Internationalisation, we will attempt to examine the range of existing research in the field. The Uppsala Model will be used as a tool to assess whether the impact of digital technologies can be integrated into current “stage” theories of internationalisation. This will eventually allow us to determine to what extent these models are valid in the context of our research.

We will need to consider the evolution of digitalisation, which in the context of internationalisation has normally been understood as to mean merely internet-based communication technologies. The concept of digitalisation used in this paper goes beyond communication technologies and includes such aspects as industrial technologies and the “Internet of Things”, often referred to as emerging digital economies or “digital revolution”.

Our goal is to identify aspects which have so far not been satisfactorily investigated. These may call for adjustments to current theories of internationalisation or, alternatively, require the emergence of totally new theories.

The paper will be organised as follows. We will first define a contextual framework of the phenomenon we call digital transformation based on a meta-analysis through a comprehensive literature review. We will then integrate this digital framework into the Uppsala Model (UM) in order to assess whether it is sufficient to explain a “digitalised establishment chain”, and finally discuss whether “stage” theories are still useful. The paper will close closes with major findings followed by considerations of limitations and implications for further research.

The work on this paper is part of an Austrian-Swedish research project called “Enterprise 4.0”, which aims at investigating digital transformation processes in international entrepreneurial firms, with special emphasis on internationalisation processes.

Det finns flera olika anledningar till att förstudien “Den goda och hållbara plan-och byggprocessen” startades upp under våren 2014. Ett flertal aktiviter arrangerade av det halländska företagsnätverket Energi-och Miljöcentrum (EMC) i Varberg har sammanfört ett antal olika aktörer som annars inte vanligtvis möts. I dessa möten har idéer och inspirerande samtal förts som lett till en gemensam vilja att samverka i olika frågor. I denna rapport beskrivs bakgrund och genomförande av förstudien samt några sammanfattande resultat. Ett antal reflektioner om framtida möjligheter presenteras i slutet av rapporten. Alexandersoninstitutet har med sitt uppdrag gett möjligheten till oss på Högskolan i Halmstad att samordna ett antal möten och problemformulera processer och dialoger med koppling planering och byggande. Uppdraget har finansierats av Europeiska Regionalfonden via projektet Efterfrågad Utveckling. Resultatet har blivit ett antal temaformuleringar och case som nu kan användas för fortsatt arbete med forskningsansökningar och spridning av erfarenheter.

Many studies have been focusing the entrepreneur and the international market situation for the Born Global Company as parts of developing the company and its growth. Networks have also been studied over time but not so much value creating networks from an internal perspective in relation to the company’s management. Networks are important and can be used to “involve help in overcoming perceived barriers on cultural and regulatory issues, those associated with locating partners, plus other matters deemed important to specific management teams” (Crick, 2009, p. 466). Cooney (2009) found evidence of a positive relationship between entrepreneurial teams and high-growth firms.

This study will take its starting point in the conceptual framework of Andersson and Wictor (2003): The Entrepreneurs, Networks, Globalisation and Industry. The study will deepen especially the knowledge about networks and how the management works developing the company and making it profitable. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how value creating networks are used in Born Global companies and how management acts.

In this quality study data has been collected through a case study. For this a conceptual framework has been developed. How does the management work in Born Global Companies?

Results which were found, was that different networks were handled differently. Building a strong and profitable company is due to how you work with your core manufacturing, outsourcing and your strategic situations in the company, how you handle your suppliers and who is responsible in your management team. In this case they have built up strong and close relationships to the suppliers and have for strategic reasons taken over strategic equipment suppliers. The management has to be aware of and define what is core manufacturing and not. It may be the easiest way to outsource but is it the best in the long run? To compete you should build a strong local network and if possible automatize your core manufacturing. The CEO has to take his or her responsibility for strategic operative situations. To decide the different roles are important in the management team. The entrepreneur’s charismatic leadership is important for empowering the organisation and its acting and for creating interesting ‘value creating networks’. Theoretical implications may be to deepen this study even more in many more companies. To study the relation from the suppliers and the customers perspective would very interesting. Practical implications are for the management to be aware of how important the strategic questions are for the management to handle in an efficient way. The board members have to be aware of what they delegate of the core business so the CEO can work with distinct roles and to secure that networks are built for supporting a profitable development. This will be even more important in the future through the Chinese competition.

This is an on-going study and will be presented in a final paper.

The aim of this paper is to investigate born global firms’ use of innovative solutions and their networks to create sustainable competitive advantages as they expand and grow in different international markets. Consequently, born globals’ use of their own firm-specific advantages and their access to complementary resources and activities of their network partners are analyzed to aid our understanding of the provision of innovative solutions that lead to growth. We use a qualitative case study approach of five born global companies. A focus group interview with the CEOs in the companies is used to gain deep insight into innovation and internationalization processes that underlie the case companies’ international growth. The study shows that the use of the entrepreneur-CEOs’ personal networks and business networks have been assets that have accorded the firms’ strong position in international markets. It can be concluded that the born global firm has strategies to tap on complementary assets of external network parties.