<p>Historically the research of International Business and the internationalisation of companies have been concentrated to large, mature companies with extensive resources to deploy in new markets. Since the 90’s a big field of research has though been on so called born globals, or international new ventures. In this thesis I will take up where this research is today and I will deal with the issue of new entrepreneurial ventures that internationalise from a very early stage of their existence From the theory five factors are retracted; 1) The Entrepreneur; 2) Identified Opportunities; 3) Entry/ Establishing mode; 4) Deployed Resources and 5) Local Challenges and from this the theoretical model is created. The following empirical study is made on Swedish entrepreneurs that have established in China during the last decade and the model seeks to answer why and how the entrepreneur established in China. The model is constructed to be usable for research on entrepreneurs from any market entering any other market. This specific study on Swedish entrepreneur in China merely fills the function of illustrating the use of the model, as the sample is too small to generalize.</p>

Historically the research of International Business and the internationalisation of companies have been concentrated to large, mature companies with extensive resources to deploy in new markets. Since the 90’s a big field of research has though been on so called born globals, or international new ventures. In this thesis I will take up where this research is today and I will deal with the issue of new entrepreneurial ventures that internationalise from a very early stage of their existence From the theory five factors are retracted; 1) The Entrepreneur; 2) Identified Opportunities; 3) Entry/ Establishing mode; 4) Deployed Resources and 5) Local Challenges and from this the theoretical model is created. The following empirical study is made on Swedish entrepreneurs that have established in China during the last decade and the model seeks to answer why and how the entrepreneur established in China. The model is constructed to be usable for research on entrepreneurs from any market entering any other market. This specific study on Swedish entrepreneur in China merely fills the function of illustrating the use of the model, as the sample is too small to generalize.

Abstract The purpose of this thesis was to increase the understanding of two early internationalizing firms (Born Globals) brand building efforts. By performing case studies on these companies we wished to discover similarities and differences in their marketing efforts. The companies that we studied were CTEK Sweden AB, a battery charger manufacturer and POC Sweden AB, who designs advanced protective gear for the alpine ski market. The theoretical framework was divided according to the four 4Ps (Product, Price, Promotion and Place) as previous studies had shown all four factors were important in the efforts of building a strong brand. Classical marketing mix theories have been augmented with theories on brand-building as well as international marketing to give further depth to the theory section. Interviews were conducted with key people in each company, who we believed would have good insight into the strategies that these had pursued. After analyzing our empirical data, we drew the conclusion that the companies had many similar traits when it came to their brand-building efforts. The foundation for rapid brand building was laid by having an innovative product. A standardized promotion strategy was used by both companies in all target markets. The ability to disregard lucrative short-term gains in order to secure long-term benefits for the brands was also a common trait in the building of their brands. Keywords: Brand-building, Branding Strategies, Born Globals, 4Ps

I den här uppsatsen har vi valt att studera Born Globals vilket är företag som snabbt och i ett tidigt skede expanderar till internationella marknader. Syftet med uppsatsen är att analysera och kritiskt granska i vilken utsträckning Born Globals kan ses som en företeelse med nya och alternativa drivkrafter och förklarande faktorer i relation till mer traditionella internationaliseringsmodeller. För att uppnå syftet har vi valt huvudproblemet, i vilken utsträckning Born Globals internationella expansion skiljer sig från den process de traditionella internationaliseringsmodellerna beskriver, och för att besvara det har vi tillämpat en kvalitativ forskningsmetod. Den teoretiska referensramen innefattar en deskription av traditionella modeller för internationalisering samt en redogörelse för Born Globals internationella expansion. Avsnittet om Born Globals innefattar också interna förklarade faktorer och externa drivkrafter som möjliggör företagens tidiga och snabba internationalisering. Den empiriska studien presenteras företagsvis och behandlar respektive företags internationalisering och globala inriktning samt respektive entreprenörs roll och externa drivkrafters betydelse för internationalisering.  Följande genomförs en analys som grundar sig i den teoretiska referensramen och den empiriska studien. I analysen diskuteras Born Globals internationaliseringsbeteende som visat sig bygga på grundarens och individers kunskap från erfarenhet och relationer, beteendet karaktäriseras av att företagen internationaliserar direkt till avlägsna marknader. Vidare analyseras interna förklarade faktorer och externa drivkrafter till Born Globals beteende. I slutsatsen konstateras att Born Globals internationaliseringsbeteende främst kan förklaras genom en kombination av Uppsala- och Nätverksmodellen då det är tydligt att Born Globals internationaliserar inkrementellt likt de traditionella modellerna beskriver att företag gör men kunskap för Born Globals erhålls genom individerna inom företagen. Det har visat sig att ett antal externa drivkrafter har betydelse för Born Globals internationalisering vilka inte tas hänsyn till i de traditionella internationaliseringsmodellerna vilka således inte fullt ut kan förklara Born Globals beteende. Därav konstateras att ett behov att revidera de traditionella modellerna föreligger så att de externa drivkrafter som format dagens samhällsbild inkluderas. Avslutningsvis presenteras förslag till fortsatt forskning angående Born Globals internationalisering och rekommendationer för företag som verkar eller ämnar verka på en global marknad.

A lot of research has been done concerning the internationalization process of companies. However, researchers have identified a new type of firm that is leapfrogging and is operating internationally right after inception. These companies are Born Globals. We are interested in this trend and the purpose of this research is to understand the strategic behaviour of Born Globals. Therefore, we have done qualitative research on these companies and we will focus on their pre-internationalization steps, their key drivers and their relation to the home market. We have found three case companies, who have helped us in our understandings and we have made several conclusions, regarding their strategic behaviour.

The aim of this diploma thesis is to identify basic specifics of internationali-zation process of small and medium sized enterprises operating in the branch of agriculture. The identification will depend on the base of the data obtained from the survey and it will depend on the base of chosen methodical procedure. The practical part of diploma thesis contains the description of actual condition of small and medium sized enterprises in Czech republic and it also contains characteristic of the branch of agriculture to which is related the survey. On the base of the results of the survey there were descripted the factors influencing the internationalization process of the enterprises, there were identified the most important motives that lead to the entry to foreign markets there were also described the obstacles and the risks that bind to the enterprises

Submitted by Octhavio Martins (octhavio@gmail.com) on 2016-01-11T19:39:24Z No. of bitstreams: 1 MPGI Thesis - Octhavio Martins - jan2016.pdf: 689522 bytes, checksum: 94a3d686879f99f8dc15466021b9d2ff (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Luiza Holme (ana.holme@fgv.br) on 2016-01-11T19:43:58Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 MPGI Thesis - Octhavio Martins - jan2016.pdf: 689522 bytes, checksum: 94a3d686879f99f8dc15466021b9d2ff (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-01-12T11:41:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 MPGI Thesis - Octhavio Martins - jan2016.pdf: 689522 bytes, checksum: 94a3d686879f99f8dc15466021b9d2ff (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-12-17 / O fenômeno das empresas born globals e a internacionalização de empresas brasileiras de base tecnológica são tópicos recentes na literatura acadêmica, devido também ao fenômeno ser recente. Não existem muitos estudados feitos com foco no mercado brasileiro, e os poucos que foram feitos, possuem um viés quantitativo. Esse estudo, entretanto, tem como objetivo analisar startups de maneira qualitativa. Uma extensa revisão de literatura foi desenvolvida a fim de melhor analisar as fundações nas quais o estudo seria desenvolvido, revisando os métodos de internacionalização, empreendedorismo no Brasil, e o fenômeno born global no geral. Entrevistas foram conduzidas com empreendedores no Brasil, que passaram pelo processo de internacionalização de seus modelos de negócios, a fim de reunir introspecções a respeito das peculiaridades do mercado brasileiro. Foram também analisados os fatores de escalabilidade de modelos de negócios dependentes de tecnologia, motivadores para a internacionalização, critério de seleção de mercados, programas governamentais, e o papel das startups brasileiras em uma perspectiva global. / The born-global phenomenon and the internationalization of Brazilian technology-based start-ups are very recent topics in the academic literature due to the phenomenon itself also being relatively recent. Not many studies have been made focusing on the Brazilian market, and the few ones that do focus on Brazil, have been made from a quantitative perspective. This study, on the other hand, aims to analyze start-ups qualitatively. An extensive literature review was developed to better analyze the foundations on which the study would be built on, reviewing internationalization methods, entrepreneurship in Brazil, and the born-global phenomenon in general. In addition, interviews were conducted with entrepreneurs in Brazil who have been through internationalizing their business models, in order to gather in-depth insights regarding the nuances of the Brazilian reality. The scalability of technology-dependent business models, internationalization triggers, criteria for selecting target markets, governmental programs, and the role of Brazilian start-ups in a global perspective, were also factors analyzed.

O objetivo desta tese é analisar a relação dos fatores do ambiente externo da empresa no país de origem, fatores organizacionais e fatores do empreendedor pelos quais algumas empresas de base tecnológica (EBTs) se internacionalizam de maneira acelerada desde sua fundação ou poucos anos após sua fundação. Cerca de 1000 EBTs foram aleatoriamente convidadas para responder o questionário. Ao final da coleta de dados a primeira base de dados gerada continha 214 respostas, das quais 85 foram obtidas de empresas com algum tipo de negócio no exterior, 39,7%. Destes, 54 questionários foram considerados válidos para esta pesquisa. Os resultados mostram que os fatores externos à empresa influenciam mais na internacionalização das EBTs em relação aos fatores internos. Assim, o habitat de localização, as parcerias, as políticas governamentais e a integração na cadeia de valor explicam de maneira significativa o processo de internacionalização das EBTs brasileiras. Porém, é a integração em cadeias produtivas globais o fator que melhor discrimina a internacionalização das EBTs born globals. Em relação aos fatores do empreendedor, as habilidades gerenciais internacionais do empreendedor também apareceram como importantes no processo acelerado de entrada no exterior das EBTs. Além disso, a tese apresenta uma taxonomia resultante de uma análise de clusters. Foram identificados três clusters: EBTs Born globals puxadas por cadeias globais, EBTs Born globals incentivadas por habitats de inovação e EBTs internacionalizadas não born globals. Portanto, esta pesquisa contribui para a discussão do processo de internacionalização acelerada das EBTs, contribuindo para suprir a lacuna da importância dos fatores externos, internos e do empreendedor no processo de internacionalização dessas empresas e apresentando uma taxonomia baseada em dados de born globals em mercados emergentes. / The objective of this thesis is to analyze the relation of factors external to the firm in the country of origin, organizational factors and entrepreneurial factors through which some technology-based firms (TBFs) internationalize in an accelerated manner since their foundation or a few years after their foundation. Approximately 1,000 TBFs were randomly invited to answer a questionnaire. At the end of data collection, the first database generated held 214 answers, of which 85 were obtained from firms which had some kind of business abroad (39.7%). Of those, 54 questionnaires were considered valid for this research. The results show that factors external to the firms influence more in the internationalization process of the TBFs in relation to internal factors. Therefore, location, partnerships, government policies and integration in the value chain significantly explain the internationalization process of Brazilian TBFs. However, integration in the value chain is the factor that best discriminates the internationalization of born global TBFs. In relation to entrepreneurial factors, international managing skills of the entrepreneur are also important to the accelerated internationalization process of the TBFs. Moreover, a taxonomy resulting of the analysis of clusters is presented in the thesis. Three clusters were identified: born-global TBFs generated by global chains, born-global TBFs motivated by innovation habitats and internationalized non-born global TBFs. Therefore, this paper contributes to the discussion of the accelerated internationalization process of TBFs, filling the gap regarding the importance of external, internal and entrepreneurial factors in the internationalization process of these firms and presenting a taxonomy based on data from born globals in emerging markets.

Följande flerfallsstudie syftar till att empiriskt undersöka hur entreprenörer i Born Globals, det vill säga företag med en global vision och närvaro från grundandet, använder sina nätverk för att bli internationella. Tre fallstudier görs på olika Born Global-företag där entreprenörernas användning av nätverk i internationaliseringsprocessen undersöks genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Fallstudierna analyseras först individuellt med hjälp av Johanson och Vahlnes internationaliseringsprocessmodell (2009) och sedan tillsammans i en jämförande analys för att dra fallgemensamma slutsatser. Resultatet visar att entreprenörerna använder sina existerande nätverk som ett verktyg för att genomföra en snabb internationaliseringsstrategi, genom att dra nytta av de kunskaper och resurser som finns inom nätverken. Nätverk fungerar både som en länk till indirekta relationer och som ett hjälpmedel för att minska det psykiska avståndet till internationella marknader. Således utnyttjas företagets nätverksposition för att identifiera affärsmöjligheter och för att lära sig, vilket möjliggör en verksamhetsförändring som driver internationaliseringen framåt.

Technical advances have made it possible for small enterprises to go international already at inception since the internet has made the internationalization process cost-effective. With the existence of the offline and online arena, the companies have to consider how they allocate their resources between these fields; not allocating resources to offline methods can save money, but could reduce adaptation to the new market which can lead to reduced firm performance. However, overspending on offline methods can be costly and could jeopardize the financial stability of the company. Although this is noted by previous research, little is still known about how companies balance the resources between online and offline presence. Especially when it comes to e-commerce companies and how the benefits of online and offline presence are balanced by this type of firms in their expansion into foreign markets. This is also what is meant to be explored in this paper. The data has been collected through semi-structured interviews with seven Swedish e-commerce companies that have internationalized their operations in an active way. The results show that online and offline benefits can be divided into four categories, namely local knowledge, local connection, promotion and services. These categories could in turn bring benefits to the company that are either substitutable, non-substitutable or complementary. The findings indicate that firms could balance their resources in online and offline presence in order to gain benefits that cannot be found in the counterparts of each presence. This could be of interest for entrepreneurs and managers that plan to engage in internationalization within e-commerce.