The Country-of-Origin (COO) is an important factor to be considered for startup firms in their international expansion and development. This exploratory study focuses on the influence and impacts of the COO on Born Global startups from emerging economies in their internationalization process. The research provides a general picture about the theories connected to the COO and its impacts, as well as the different contexts which are the basis for the COO construct, such as the historical, economic and international contexts. The study is based on three case companies from Brazil, founded around the year of 2010. Besides understanding the COO effects faced by Global Born firms in international markets, this study also analyzes how these companies deal with this matter when implementing their internationalization plans. Moreover, the study also assesses the Global Born firms’ internationalization path, as well as their main motivators and influential factors. The findings about the influence of COO affects in Born Global startups from emerging markets are displayed in two phases: (1) the initial stage, when consumers still have little knowledge and experience with the products or services offered by the startups, therefore relying more on first perceptions such as the COO, and (2) a secondary stage, in which the companies have already interacted in the international market, and the companies and their products and services are already known by the market in some extent. This study’s findings suggest that the COO affects the startups in the first moments of their internationalization process, however the COO influences decreases as the startups develop, interact and exploit the new markets. The findings are presented from both a within-case perspective and a cross-case perspective. Furthermore, discussion of the findings, implications and suggestions for further research are provided.

Most of the existing research regarding internationalization is focusing on larger and established firms. Therefore, this paper will contribute to research by solely focusing on young and small firms' internationalization. There is today much research on specific theories. Meanwhile, the internationalization process is complex by nature. Therefore, this paper focuses on integration between several aspects, which are Born Global, Network strategy, Resources-based view, and Digitalization. The Covid-19 pandemic changed the “status quo” regarding Born Globals’ additional way of doing foreign business, which includes changes regarding network, resources, and digitalization. Based on the knowledge gaps the research questions want to answer how the internationalization process of Swedish Born Globals has been affected during Covid-19, in addition to how networks, resources, and digitalization helped and shaped the internationalization journey during Covid-19.This study aims to better understand how young firms internationalize and achieve rapid growth from foreign markets in times of the Covid-19 pandemic, with lockdowns and other restrictions. The paper aims to contribute knowledge regarding challenges and solutions during the Covid-19 pandemic or other future crises. Potentially, firms can learn from this research to prepare them to better meet the future and other potential pandemics or crises. In addition, other more established firms can learn from young organizations that adapted and built their organizations in times of the Covid-19 pandemic.With the help of a deductive approach that uses existing theories as a basis for the interview guide with semi-structured questions, we have found that Swedish Born Globals have been able to successfully internationalize during Covid-19. Networks have been highly important and a shift toward digital meetings has become the new normal. The importance of adapting to digitalization is crucial as connecting with your network has to a large extent taken a digital form. We found that digitalization helps Born Globals to become more resource-efficient and that knowledge of the staff which was regarded as a key resource can be even more efficient when working remotely and communicating digitally. In general, the Born Globals in this study are positive towards change and adaptations, which is a mindset that means opportunities to achieve competitive advantage and rapid international growth in times of the Covid-19 pandemic and after as well.

This study is an introduction to the field of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and TripleBottom Line (TBL) utilization in Swedish born global firms. The purpose of this study was toexplore how born globals utilize CSR and TBL and thus contribute to the research field withnew knowledge. The knowledge gap found by the researchers was the lack of foundationalknowledge of the field born globals, CSR and TBL together. The research questionsconcerned the utilization of CSR and TBL, what negative aspects of CSR and TBL were seenby the companies and what parts of CSR and TBL were most important. This study wasconducted on Swedish born global firms utilizing sustainability practices. A conceptualframework was generated by the concepts born global, CSR and TBL to visualize theirconnection. The purpose and the questions were fulfilled and answered by conductingsemi-structured interviews with four Swedish born global companies of different sizes andindustries. To further develop the analysis, Archie B Carroll's input was added. What could beconcluded from this study was that the companies had different ways of utilizing CSR.Furthermore, the negative aspects of working sustainably with CSR and TBL was seen aseconomical and time consuming. The positive aspects were the other values gained for thefirms externally which overweighted the negative costs. Thus has this research contributed tomanagers within born global firms as well as the theoretical research field of born globals andCSR.

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There has been an increase in research on the internationalization of so-called born-globalfirms. However, this research primarily focused on the internationalization process duringcalmer times. So far, little attention has been paid to internationalization during times of crisis.Especially for the recently happened COVID-19 crisis, research on the implications for bornglobal internationalization has been neglected. Nonetheless, born-global firms face manyliabilities in their internationalization processes, even getting more severe in times of crisis.This study aims to fill the existing knowledge gap by examining the internationalization ofSwedish born-global firms and their challenges due to COVID-19. Finally, we seek to makerecommendations for firms and entrepreneurs on how to cope with those hurdles.This research was conducted using qualitative semi-structured interviews with the founders orco-founders of six Swedish companies that fit the specifics of a born-global firm.The empirical findings show that all firms internationalize quickly abroad by using variousstrategies. While some follow relatively gradual approaches, others internationalize withintheir home regions or globally from the beginning. Also, the firms faced challenges due toilliquid customers, funding issues, or impeded networking. On the other hand, many companiescould discover new opportunities due to the crisis that supported their survival in abroadmarkets. Herewith the digital infrastructure and being online was distinctive. Eventually, it waspossible to conclude supportive behavioral patterns for entrepreneurs and firms when facingcrises.

Yes / This study seeks to investigate the effectiveness of Cloud Computing Utilization (CCU) in the mitigation of informational and marketing barriers for SMEs from the Emerging Market-Countries (EM-SMEs). A quantitative-research methodology was applied to collect data by using self-administered questionnaires from top managers of 227 SMEs based in Iran and Turkey. The study contributes theoretically to both small business and international business literature by developing a new classification of the internationalization barriers that EM-SMEs face, and proposing a series of cloud computing (CC) solutions for mitigating these barriers, resulting in the creation and testing of a new model. The empirical findings confirm that CCU can help EM-SMEs to mitigate a series of informational and marketing barriers. The key practical contributions of the study offer insights to both EM-SMEs and Cloud-Service-Providers (CSPs) on the extent to which CCU is effective in mitigating the internationalization barriers faced by EM-SMEs.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka vilken affärsmodell som born globals använder vid internationalisering och vilka faktorer som påverkar valet av modell. Studien har använt sig av en kvalitativ forskningsmetod och har genomförts som en fallstudie. Vidare utgörs studien av semistrukturerade intervjuer. Studien kommer fram till att born globals vid internationalisering har en affärsmodell som är freemium och att det resursbaserade synsättet samt bransch är viktiga bakomliggande faktorer till valet av affärsmodell. Faktorerna globalisering och entrepenören har mindre direkt påverkan medan nätverk endast har en begränsad påverkan i valet av affärsmodell för born globals vid internationalisering. / The purpose of this study is to examine the business model that Born Globals use during their internationalization, and the factors that influence the choice of model. The study has used a qualitative research method and has been implemented as a case study. Furthermore, the study consists of semi-structured interviews. The study concluded that the internationalization of born globals has a freemium business model, and that the resource-based approach, and industry are important factors behind the choice of business model. Less direct impact has globalization and entrepreneur while networks have only a limited impact on the choice of business model for internationalization of born globals.

Drawing on the Network Theory, this research had the objective to analyse the influence of networks within the life cycle stages of a Born Global company. By developing a framework that consisted of a pre-inception phase, start-up phase and the growth phase, the study proposed to identify which types of networks were used within the development of the BG, and how they influenced on the internationalisation speed. By conducting an in-depth interview, data has been collected to be analysed as a single-case study. Our findings indicate that the company made active use of networks in every phase of its life cycle in terms of acquiring market knowledge, financial support and access to customers in which directly influenced in its internationalisation process and speed. Moreover, we observed that the characteristics of the entrepreneur, the product and also the mechanism of networking contributed to both of the development within the life cycle stages of the company as the internationalisation speed.

As globalization facilitates trade across geographical borders, more and more small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) take the opportunity to internationalize, sometimes even immediately after their start-up. To enhance our understanding of how SMEs internationalize, this dissertation investigates different means of interaction that SMEs employ in foreign business relationships to develop the experiential knowledge needed for further internationalization. The investigated interaction means are high-commitment internationalization modes, low-commitment internationalization modes, business network relationships, personal network relationships, and personal interaction. Based on qualitative, longitudinal data from eight born global SMEs in the biotech field and a questionnaire survey of 188 SMEs from various industries, results show how different groups of firms apply different interaction means to develop experiential knowledge and internationalize. In particular, the results show that differences in the backgrounds of founders and managers strongly influence the means that different groups of SMEs use when interacting with foreign business counterparts. Moreover, interaction of high quality and quantity, in the form of personal interaction, reduces uncertainties and supports the development of trust and experiential knowledge in internationalizing SMEs. Personal interaction is also shown to be an especially important interaction means for firms that develop new products or new technologies in collaboration with foreign customers. Building on these results, the dissertation contribute to the development of theory about the influence of interaction on the experiential knowledge development and internationalization of SMEs in general and rapidly internationalizing SMEs in particular.

Research pertaining to the role of active online internationalization (AOI) in the context of Born Globals has been shown to be an under-researched area of study. This compelled us to explore the possible benefits and challenges that may come from pursuing AOI for Swedish Born Globals. Our theoretical framework combined literature concerning Born Globals and their rapid internationalization with the notion of learning advantages of newness and literature regarding AOI into a theoretical model. Our theoretical investigation displayed a lack of research dealing with the potential challenges of AOI; with the virtuality trap of Yamin and Sinkovics (2006) being the exception. Through abductively analyzing qualitative data collected from four Swedish Born Globals with our theoretical model, we arrived at a number of empirically testable propositions that highlight the effects of using AOI for Swedish Born Globals. Our analysis leads to the conclusion that there are more challenges for Swedish Born Globals pursuing AOI than previously identified by present literature.