<p>Abstract</p><p>The process of internationalization of firms has in the past been seen as something that is costly and time-consuming. For those reasons, companies took long before they started expanding internationally, growing strong in domestic markets first. However, now there are companies being started, that right from the outset start producing and selling on international markets. Companies that behave this way are a rather new phenomenon and are known as Born Globals.</p><p>The purpose of our thesis was to increase the understanding of factors that are important for explaining Born Globals rapid internationalization, and also how these factors have affected the process.</p><p>Most of the research done on Born Globals has been of high-tech companies. However, the phenomenon is not limited to them. Therefore we researched one high-tech company and one low-tech to see if there are similarities in the driving forces behind their rapid internationalization.</p><p>Four factors have been addressed repeatedly when trying to explain Born Global’s behavior: Globalization, Industry, Entrepreneur and Networks. These factors were used as a theoretical framework for our thesis. However, our findings point out that to gain a deeper understanding, the interdependent relationship between the variables should also be taken into consideration.</p><p>After gathering empirical data through interviews with key people in each company, our findings point out that access to complimentary resources and a possibility to control them efficiently was important in explaining both companies rapid internationalization. By focusing on the core competencies of the company and outsourcing other value-adding functions, companies are able to internationalize rapidly even with scarce resources. Access to resources through networks, as well as entrepreneurial ambition helped speed up this process.</p><p>Keywords: Born Globals, Rapid Internationalization</p>

Abstract The process of internationalization of firms has in the past been seen as something that is costly and time-consuming. For those reasons, companies took long before they started expanding internationally, growing strong in domestic markets first. However, now there are companies being started, that right from the outset start producing and selling on international markets. Companies that behave this way are a rather new phenomenon and are known as Born Globals. The purpose of our thesis was to increase the understanding of factors that are important for explaining Born Globals rapid internationalization, and also how these factors have affected the process. Most of the research done on Born Globals has been of high-tech companies. However, the phenomenon is not limited to them. Therefore we researched one high-tech company and one low-tech to see if there are similarities in the driving forces behind their rapid internationalization. Four factors have been addressed repeatedly when trying to explain Born Global’s behavior: Globalization, Industry, Entrepreneur and Networks. These factors were used as a theoretical framework for our thesis. However, our findings point out that to gain a deeper understanding, the interdependent relationship between the variables should also be taken into consideration. After gathering empirical data through interviews with key people in each company, our findings point out that access to complimentary resources and a possibility to control them efficiently was important in explaining both companies rapid internationalization. By focusing on the core competencies of the company and outsourcing other value-adding functions, companies are able to internationalize rapidly even with scarce resources. Access to resources through networks, as well as entrepreneurial ambition helped speed up this process. Keywords: Born Globals, Rapid Internationalization

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.