This dissertation sets out to explore the phenomenon of Born Globals, a small, international entrepreneurial firm. The study aims at exploring how the entrepreneur perceives the factors that influence the creation of a Born Global. This topic has been chosen since little research has been carried out in order to investigate what the entrepreneurs find important in the creation of a Born Global. This fact has been the basis in developing our study’s aim to investigate the factors’ relative importance. The first step in the investigation is the literature review which is carried out in order to gain significant knowledge about the phenomenon before collecting empirical data of our own, the deductive approach. The literature review revolves around the conceptual framework created by Andersson & Wictor (2003), which has been used to summarise other findings by other authors into the four subcategories that our found to facilitate the creation of a Born Global. In addition to these factors we have found that nation specific characteristics and company specific advantages, as well as entry modes are feasible facilitators to discuss further. When considering methodology a qualitative design has been found the most suitable. The approach used is influenced by Phenomenography which aims to describe people’s perceptions and experiences of different phenomena. In order to investigate this phenomenon we have used open interviews with two different entrepreneurs that were found through careful sampling. The companies chosen are located on two different continents and in two different businesses. The interviews have been transcribed and categorised and the empirical data have been divided into the same categories used in the literature review. This has been done in order to make it easier to read but also easier to analyse. After the summary of the empirical data we have conducted a cross analysis. In analysing the data we have looked for similarities and differences in order to draw conclusions regarding the issues set out to investigate. The empirical results and the analysis revolve around the six areas outlined in the theory, i.e. Globalisation, Entrepreneur, Networks, Industry, Entry Modes, and A fit between nation specific characteristics and company specific advantages. The two entrepreneurs consider the same factors to have had the biggest influence for the biggest part. However they disagree regarding the importance of Networks and Market Entry. These factors have both had an impact on the companies but their relative importance is disputed. We would like to stress that the investigated attitudes are subjective. It is the interviewees’ attitudes and opinions the study has been aiming at investigating and therefore it is important to identify the individual as a factor when discussing the investigation’s credibility. It is rather unlikely that we would have reached the same conclusions with different interviewees but since it is attitudes that have been investigated it is only natural and does therefore not clash with the purpose of the study.

This study investigates small firm internationalisation from an individual owner-manager’s perspective. Despite advancing our understanding of small firm internationalisation, process-based theories including the Uppsala, innovation-related and networks explanations, and more recently entrepreneurial-based theories remain vague in relation to what characterises and constitutes the internationalisation practices of small owner-managed firms. Process theories overlook the owner-manager and their practices, while entrepreneurial explanations focus on individual characteristics to the exclusion of their internationalisation practices. Furthermore, existing explanations are constrained by rationalistic assumptions prevalent in small firm internationalisation research which de-emphasise comprehensiveness, connectedness and complexity in favour of de-contextualised parsimonious causal relationships, thereby limiting investigations into how owner-managers understand and practice firm internationalisation. As a way forward, an alternative interpretive lens is adopted using a phenomenographic approach to explore how owner-managers understand and practise firm internationalisation. Consequently, the owner-manager’s lived experiences of firm internationalisation provide the point of departure for this study. In-depth interviews with owner-managers of small internationalising wineries, together with observations, field notes, documentation and secondary data formed the basis of my empirical material which was analysed in two-stages. The material was initially analysed in terms of what constituted firm internationalisation practice, and was subsequently examined to explore how owner-managers understand firm internationalisation. A small firm internationalisation activity cycle comprising: assessing and knowing markets, prospecting and attracting agent interest, assessing agent compatibility, supporting and sustaining agent relationships and termination or failure of agent relationships emerged as what constituted their internationalisation practice. Subsequent analysis revealed how owner-managers understood firm internationalisation by identifying four qualitatively different understandings of firm internationalisation practices: seeking market knowledge, competing on price, portraying distinctiveness and storytelling. The internationalisation activity cycle and the understandings of firm internationalisation were later connected to form an understanding-based theory of small firm internationalisation. This study contributes to small firm internationalisation theory in two ways: first, the articulation of an on-going and inter-connected internationalisation activity cycle of the small firm extends existing theories by providing a more complete and accurate explanation of how owner-managers of small firms conduct their internationalisation practices. It makes visible the activities, processes and relationships obscured by existing theories. The internationalisation activity cycle, through the inter-relatedness of each of the activities concurrently, combines market knowledge processes with processes of attracting, building and replacing network relationships with domestic and foreign-based actors. Second, revealing different understandings of internationalisation practices of small owner-managed firms, and associating these understandings of internationalisation with their internationalisation activity cycle not only extends existing theories but offers a new explanation of small firm internationalisation. An understanding-based theory of small firm internationalisation advocates that variations in conduct and activities undertaken by owner-managers are determined by their different understandings of firm internationalisation. As a result, owner-managers attach different meanings to the activities within the internationalisation activity cycle as they conduct their internationalisation practices. Consequently, the variability and idiosyncratic nature of small firm internationalisation is captured as one of multiplicity, rather than demanding universal explanation proposed by existing theories. Keywords: small firm, internationalisation, understanding-based theory, internationalisation activity cycle, phenomenography Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classifications (ANZSRC): 150304 entrepreneurship 10%, 150308 international business 70%, 150314 small business management 20%

This exploratory study investigated diverse facets of internationalisation at selected public higher education institutions in South Africa during the period from 1994 to 2001. The central aim of the research was to explore the responses of the South African public higher education sector to international student influx in the immediate post-apartheid era, a period characterised by the rapid restructuring and transformation of the sector. The study was undertaken with the rationale to address the gap in the research literature on internationalisation in general, and student mobility in particular, with specific reference to South Africa. An exploratory study of this nature could also inform higher education policy makers and was deemed to be appropriate at a time when South Africa had rejoined the international community after years of isolation. In seeking a conceptual framework for this research, a multi-disciplinary approach was pursued because globalisation and internationalisation are concepts that cut across several disciplines. The conceptual framework was thus informed by debates about globalisation and internationalisation, migration theory, international relations, political economy and higher education. Insights and knowledge from these theoretical perspectives were analysed and synthesised to formulate a plausible framework for the emergence of South Africa not just as a new global destination for international students, but also as one of the top 10 host nations in the world and the leading host country on the African continent. A two-phase or mixed-method research design was adopted for this study. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used in a complementary fashion. Five institutional case studies were selected as a snapshot of the (public) higher education sector in the immediate post-apartheid period between 1994 and 2001. In addition, the actions of other influential bodies and role players such as the Department of Education, the Council on Higher Education, the International Education Association of South Africa, the South African University Vice-Chancellors’ Association, the Committee of Technikon Principals and student formations were critically examined. The institutional case studies as well as research participants were purposefully selected on the basis of predetermined criteria, as explained in the methodology chapter. Primary and secondary data were gathered from the above iii institutions, staff and students using documents and semi-structured individual and focus group interviews. The interviews were transcribed and content analysed manually in order to generate emerging themes upon which the conclusions are based. In addition to institutional data, national data on international student enrolment trends also informed the findings of this research. Alluding to the findings, a variety of responses by South African (public) higher education institutions to international student influx between 1994 and 2001 are apparent. Whereas some institutions, mainly the larger, historically advantaged universities were more proactive and consciously decided to internationalise by adopting internationalisation policies and putting in place structures such as International Offices, other institutions, more specifically the smaller historically disadvantaged institutions, were unable to deal with internationalisation to the same extent and rather focussed on addressing the more pressing national higher education imperatives. While the responses of institutions within the South Africa (public) higher education sector have been diverse, reflecting their unequal historical legacies and future visions for strategic growth and development, it is argued that for the South African higher education sector to be more beneficial as a resource to the country, the Southern African region and the continent at large, a holistic, integrated national policy framework on internationalisation is required.

The words ??Globalisation?? and ??Internationalisation?? have received a great deal of interest from global nations, enterprises, citizens and academics especially since the late 20th century. Although the process of globalization began as a social trend for tracking the expansion of human population and the growth of civilization since as early as the 16th century, globalization became a business phenomenon in the 19th century from rapid growth in international trade and investment between the European imperial powers, its colonies and, later, the United States. Scholars of the 20th century vigorously attempted to theorise internationalisation of multinational enterprises (MNEs) based on MNEs?? internationalisation processes. As the vast majority of such theories were developed for the manufacturing industry, the validity of theories for the service industry became ambiguous. Despite the fact that one of the fastest growing sectors of global trade since the late 20th century is the trade in cultural goods and services, scholars haven??t attempted to validate such a phenomenon by reference to existing theories of internationalisation processes. This thesis attempts to dismantle the internationalisation processes of cultural firms and to explore the validity of existing internationalisation theories. Due to the inherent difficulties in analysing all sectors of cultural industries, this thesis has adopted a single in-depth case study method with qualitative data to support the findings of the thesis. Although the internationalisation processes of a firm consist of an abundant series of intermittent and continuous ventures by the firm, the particular focus of this thesis is on the longitudinal processes of a firm??s overall internationalisation processes. As one of the foremost runners of ??Hallyu ?? Korean Wave?? phenomenon, MBC has been selected as a case study object for this thesis. With a history of internationalisation processes over 40 years, involving various internal and external environmental factors/forces interactively, the case of MBC offers an insight into the empirical study of the internationalisation processes of cultural firms. Although this thesis shows strong support for the dynamic capabilities theory??a theory that explains dynamic activities and behaviours of MBC??s internationalisation processes in accordance with, and as a result of, ever-changing both internal and external factors/forces of environments??dynamic capability theory itself is deficient in explaining the underlying sources and drivers of those factors/forces. In order to overcome such a shortfall, this thesis suggests an integrative approach of integrating multidisciplinary theories as a theoretical framework for future studies of internalisation processes theories especially for empirical and industry-specific studies. This thesis provides comprehensive framework for three components??motives, way-stations and performance??of internationalisation processes of cultural firms, thereby contributing to the under-researched field in the discipline of international business.

Background: People’s Republic of China’s entry into the World Trade Organisation in 2001 and the Chinese government’s implementation of the Going global strategy initiated the internationalisation process where Chinese actors are encouraged to seek opportunities in foreign markets. The Sino-Swedish relations dates back as far as the 18th century when Sweden was one of China’s major trading partners. Sweden was also the first country to establish diplomatic relationships with China in the 1950th. In recent years, China has shown an increasing interest of investing in the Swedish market creating a “two-way street”, meaning that the investments are going both ways. Problem Discussion & Purpose: The markets of Sweden and China both have their own dis-tinctive characteristics and unique business environments. However, the large socio-cultural distance complicates business between the two parts. Sweden is a country with political and market stability that posses advanced technology and know-how. Nevertheless, in relation to other European countries, Sweden has significant drawbacks. The aim of this thesis is to gain further understanding of what motivates Chinese investors to internationalize and why Chinese investors choose Sweden as well as how the entry process is carried out. Theoretical Framework: The theoretical framework will outline a description of the develop-ment of internationalisation theories and the motives for internationalisation. Following is the concept of Where, When and How, focusing on Where and How through country competitiveness and the entry modes available. The final focus will be on the creation of networks along with the concept of Guanxi and personal relationships. Methodology: The research is conducted with a qualitative analysis through primary data collection of semi-structured interviews. The study is a combination of explanatory and exploratory since it both tries to seek new insight in the subject and explain relationships between variables. Conclusion: The internationalisation motives for Chinese companies choosing Sweden are market and strategic, identified as the wish to seek new opportunities, spreading capital risk and through international influences gain technological update and educational upgrade. When it comes to the vital factors to why Chinese investors choose Sweden, they can be categorised as hard and soft factors where the latter is stressed as the most important. Networks and relation-ships are important aspects in the Where factor and they are also vital when it comes to the How factor and the establishment process. Relationships are the essence of networks and when look-ing at the results from the research, several of the Chinese establishments in Sweden would not have happened without the presence of networks.

The study aims to investigate Swedish fitness companies positioning and strategic choices when internationalising in the Scandinavian countries and what has influenced this choice. Furthermore, the corporate risk and what obstacles they encountered will be examined. The study was conducted as a qualitative study with a deductive approach. The results are based mainly on primary data from interviews, as well as secondary data. The fitness companies’ choice of strategy in internationalisation depends largely on its concept and positioning. The main obstacles in the internationalisation process are lack of communication, language difficulties and regulations. To what degree the companies are willing to take risks is determined by the company's ownership structure / Syftet med studien är att undersöka svenska träningskedjors positionering och strategival vid etablering i Norden och vad som påverkat detta val. Vidare kommer företagens riskbenägenhet undersökas och hur detta hanteras samt vilka hinder de stött på i sin etableringsprocess. Studien har genomförts som en kvalitativ undersökning med en deduktiv ansats. Resultatet baseras på främst primärdata från intervjuer, men även sekundärdata. Träningsföretagens strategival vid internationalisering beror till stor del på företagets koncept och positionering. De största hindren vid etablering är brister i kommunikation, språksvårigheter samt lagar och regler. Riskbenägenheten bestäms av företagets ägarstruktur.

<p>Background: People’s Republic of China’s entry into the World Trade Organisation in 2001 and the Chinese government’s implementation of the Going global strategy initiated the internationalisation process where Chinese actors are encouraged to seek opportunities in foreign markets. The Sino-Swedish relations dates back as far as the 18th century when Sweden was one of China’s major trading partners. Sweden was also the first country to establish diplomatic relationships with China in the 1950th. In recent years, China has shown an increasing interest of investing in the Swedish market creating a “two-way street”, meaning that the investments are going both ways.</p><p>Problem Discussion & Purpose: The markets of Sweden and China both have their own dis-tinctive characteristics and unique business environments. However, the large socio-cultural distance complicates business between the two parts. Sweden is a country with political and market stability that posses advanced technology and know-how. Nevertheless, in relation to other European countries, Sweden has significant drawbacks. The aim of this thesis is to gain further understanding of what motivates Chinese investors to internationalize and why Chinese investors choose Sweden as well as how the entry process is carried out.</p><p>Theoretical Framework: The theoretical framework will outline a description of the develop-ment of internationalisation theories and the motives for internationalisation. Following is the concept of Where, When and How, focusing on Where and How through country competitiveness and the entry modes available. The final focus will be on the creation of networks along with the concept of Guanxi and personal relationships.</p><p>Methodology: The research is conducted with a qualitative analysis through primary data collection of semi-structured interviews. The study is a combination of explanatory and exploratory since it both tries to seek new insight in the subject and explain relationships between variables.</p><p>Conclusion: The internationalisation motives for Chinese companies choosing Sweden are market and strategic, identified as the wish to seek new opportunities, spreading capital risk and through international influences gain technological update and educational upgrade. When it comes to the vital factors to why Chinese investors choose Sweden, they can be categorised as hard and soft factors where the latter is stressed as the most important. Networks and relation-ships are important aspects in the Where factor and they are also vital when it comes to the How factor and the establishment process. Relationships are the essence of networks and when look-ing at the results from the research, several of the Chinese establishments in Sweden would not have happened without the presence of networks.</p>

The purpose of this research is to increase understanding about the influence of the family on internationalisation of family firms in the Swedish context, in terms of family human, social and financial capital. Multiple cases of four Swedish manufacturing family firms were studied by conducting interviews with the family members working in the family firm. A perspective of family capital and its three components of human, social and financial capital, was adopted to analyse the empirical findings. The findings identify several positive and negative influences of the family on internationalisation of the firm. Positive factors include: family members’ deep knowledge about the firm, commitment, long-term perspective, family values like honesty, trust. Negative factors include: family firms are slow-to-change, family’s strong commitment to local society and family’s goal of slow and steady growth. Most factors confirm existing theory, on other theories these findings shed critical lights and some new insights were made. Based on the findings, future research suggestions are made.

The words ??Globalisation?? and ??Internationalisation?? have received a great deal of interest from global nations, enterprises, citizens and academics especially since the late 20th century. Although the process of globalization began as a social trend for tracking the expansion of human population and the growth of civilization since as early as the 16th century, globalization became a business phenomenon in the 19th century from rapid growth in international trade and investment between the European imperial powers, its colonies and, later, the United States. Scholars of the 20th century vigorously attempted to theorise internationalisation of multinational enterprises (MNEs) based on MNEs?? internationalisation processes. As the vast majority of such theories were developed for the manufacturing industry, the validity of theories for the service industry became ambiguous. Despite the fact that one of the fastest growing sectors of global trade since the late 20th century is the trade in cultural goods and services, scholars haven??t attempted to validate such a phenomenon by reference to existing theories of internationalisation processes. This thesis attempts to dismantle the internationalisation processes of cultural firms and to explore the validity of existing internationalisation theories. Due to the inherent difficulties in analysing all sectors of cultural industries, this thesis has adopted a single in-depth case study method with qualitative data to support the findings of the thesis. Although the internationalisation processes of a firm consist of an abundant series of intermittent and continuous ventures by the firm, the particular focus of this thesis is on the longitudinal processes of a firm??s overall internationalisation processes. As one of the foremost runners of ??Hallyu ?? Korean Wave?? phenomenon, MBC has been selected as a case study object for this thesis. With a history of internationalisation processes over 40 years, involving various internal and external environmental factors/forces interactively, the case of MBC offers an insight into the empirical study of the internationalisation processes of cultural firms. Although this thesis shows strong support for the dynamic capabilities theory??a theory that explains dynamic activities and behaviours of MBC??s internationalisation processes in accordance with, and as a result of, ever-changing both internal and external factors/forces of environments??dynamic capability theory itself is deficient in explaining the underlying sources and drivers of those factors/forces. In order to overcome such a shortfall, this thesis suggests an integrative approach of integrating multidisciplinary theories as a theoretical framework for future studies of internalisation processes theories especially for empirical and industry-specific studies. This thesis provides comprehensive framework for three components??motives, way-stations and performance??of internationalisation processes of cultural firms, thereby contributing to the under-researched field in the discipline of international business.

There are constraints hindering South Africa‘s ICT entrepreneurs form being internationally competitive. The purpose of this research was to explore them through experiential surveying of South African ICT experts who have successfully internationalised. The outcome of the research was an understanding of both internal organisational constraints and external environmental constraints. Six constraints were explored in detail: human resource, strategy and finance from within the enterprise and political/regulatory, economic and socio-cultural within the environment. It was established that internal constraints exert more influence than external constraints. Human resource was the critical constraint followed by financing which could be influenced both externally and internally. Other constraints are also explored including technology constraints and lack of national planning and collaboration. Recommendations are made to stakeholders. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted