International Start-ups Research Articles

The Role of Social Networks in the Internationalisation of Startups: LinkedIn in Portuguese Context

Abstract This study aims to explore the role of social networks in the internationalisation of startups. For this purpose, the social network LinkedIn is used, and two case studies of Portuguese technological startups are employed. The findings indicate that social networks can contribute to the acceleration of the internationalisation process and decrease their costs. Their relevance is greater in the initial phase of the internationalisation process. However, its relevance is limited in more advanced phases of this process. LinkedIn can be used by startups to obtain several benefits such as brand awareness, identification of new opportunities, customer feedback, among others. The results of this study are essentially useful in a practical dimension for companies that plan to start or improve their internationalisation process sustained on social networks.

International Journal of Innovation - IJI completes 7 years

International Journal of Innovation - IJI completes 7 years

Related and unrelated industry variety and the internationalization of start-ups

ABSTRACT We study the relationship between industry variety in a start-up's home location and the start-up's internationalization in terms of both the likelihood of and persistence in exporting. Using a unique sample of Swedish start-ups, we find that related industry variety is positively associated with exporting likelihood and persistence, whereas unrelated industry variety is positively associated with exporting likelihood and persistence when the start-ups’ employees possess technological knowledge. We also find that employees’ international experience strengthens the positive relationship between related industry variety and start-ups’ export persistence. We provide auxiliary evidence of the proposed mechanisms through which related and unrelated industry variety affects start-ups’ internationalization—that is, through their effects on start-ups’ ability to launch novel products in foreign markets. The findings of our study provide policymakers preliminary evidence on the value of developing and sustaining local knowledge conditions and promoting labor recruitment policies in the home country to promote start-up internationalization.

A Coming of Age in the Anthropological Study of Anime?

This article highlights how Anglophone anthropological studies of Japanese animation (anime) have overlooked its businesspeople (such as producers, investors, merchandisers, and entrepreneurs) by formulaically advocating anime creators and fans as crusaders subverting the global dominance of Euro–American global entertainment capitalism. Contextualising such orientation as an example of what Gayatri Spivak calls “strategic essentialism”, the article further explores how to break out of this essentialist impasse of analysis in the anthropological approach to anime. The article suggests that a potential exit might exist through envisioning the business anthropology of anime, i.e. by casting an ethnographic focus on anime’s businesspeople as the legitimate interlocutors for anthropological inquiries into anime. The author further explores the preliminary theoretical implications of this analytical turn through his own business ethnography of an international start-up venture of anime merchandising.

Conditions for the development of Vietnamese business and entrepreneurship in Poland

This paper outlines the history of the development of Vietnamese business and Vietnamese businessmen and entrepreneurs community in Poland. This special period of history of development was to be divided into two main phases. In addition, this article has analyzed the factors affecting international entrepreneurship spirit and international entrepreneurship capacity of this Vietnamese business community here in Poland. These factors are well identified in the overview part of international startups and international entrepreneurship study. The study showed that these factors include: foreign market appeal, government policies, compatibility of business practices, and adaptability to foreign markets. In the research part of this article, these factors were taken to be reanalyzed for the Vietnamese business community in Poland and showed why Vietnamese people choose Poland to be a good place for family settlement and for doing long-term business. Moreover, the success factors and success barriers behind their business development compared to the community of Chinese businessmen and entrepreneurs who came to Poland just only several years later have also been clearly identified. The research results show that, to strengthen the position and to raise the business awareness of Vietnamese business community in Poland, to strengthen it into a more developed and unified community for the purpose of future sustainable development, Vietnamese embassy in Poland with all of its networks of partnership, Vietnam's foreign trade promotion and trade representative agencies, and the diverse Vietnamese associations in Poland, both for profit and non-profit, need to play an interactive role to support Vietnamese businessmen and entrepreneurs to understand indigenous business practices, to overcome language and culture barriers in a bid to better integrate with the Polish business and social environment.

Capabilities and International Startups' International Performance: A Systematic Literature Review

The study of how capability relates to international startup’s international performance has become a relevant topic of research in international entrepreneurship in recent years. Unfortunately, su...

Sharing Economy Startups: New Wave of Networked Business Models in the Changing World

The relatively new phenomenon called sharing economy, or collaborative consumption, is best known by the companies like Airbnb and Uber. These companies use mobile applications and web platforms to match people willing to share a room or a car with others who need a ride or a place to stay. The peer-to-peer economy has disrupted traditional business models and upset the regulatory status quo (Shueh, 2014). Sharing economy has challenged mature industries, such as hotels, restaurants, cars, by providing consumers with convenient and effective access to resources without the financial, emotional or social burdens of ownership. In that sense, sharing economy is also an access economy (Eckhardt & Bardhi, 2015). There is a whole bunch of new startups springing up and joining the sharing economy movement. Companies are inventing new ways of integrating customers in their value creation processes in order to enhance the success of new service concepts. In this study, sharing economy is defined as a set of practices and business models based on horizontal networks and the participation of a community (Ouishare; Ismail, 2014). The aim of this study is to increase understanding of how the new networked startups operate and how they create value for their customers. We especially look at the role of platforms, the innovations in organizing the business and the role of the networks and communities. The data is collected from a Finnish sharing economy startup operating in the restaurant industry (lunch leftovers). The early stage startups’ business model is compared to the leading startups in the sharing economy. The data is collected by interviewing the entrepreneurs, drawing the customer journeys and visualizing the elements of their business models. A case study is used as a method because the study aims to explain what kind of business models sharing economy startups use and what is the role of the different elements in their success in partnerships, resources, customer relationships, and communities. A Case study is relevant when the study requires an extensive and in-depth description of the phenomenon (Yin, 2014). As a result, this study will provide insight into how the new sharing economy startups organize their businesses to create unique value for the customers. This article will contribute to the increasing interest of enhancing customer experience and raise some key elements for the success factors of the sharing economy. Also, the study will highlight the possibilities of digital platforms enhancing the growth and internationalization of startups.

Lean Internal Startups for Software Product Innovation in Large Companies: Enablers and Inhibitors

To compete in this age of disruption, large companies cannot rely on cost efficiency, lead time reduction and quality improvement. They are now looking for ways to innovate like startups. Meanwhile, the awareness and use of the Lean startup approach have grown rapidly amongst the software startup community in recent years. This study investigates how Lean internal startup facilitates software product innovation in large companies and identifies its enablers and inhibitors. A multiple case study approach is followed in the investigation. Two software product innovation projects from two large companies are examined, using a conceptual framework that is based on the method-in-action framework and extended with the previously developed Lean-Internal Corporate Venture model. Seven face-to-face in-depth interviews of the employees with different roles are conducted. Within-case analysis and cross-case comparison are applied to draw the findings from the cases. A generic process flow summarises the common key processes of Lean internal startups. The findings suggest that an internal startup that is initiated management or employees faces different challenges. A list of enablers of applying Lean startup in large companies are identified, including top management support and cross-functional team. Both cases face different inhibitors due to the different process of inception, objective of the team and type of the product. Our contributions are threefold. First, this study is one of the first attempt to investigate the use of Lean startup approach in large companies empirically. Second, the study shows the potential of the method-in-action framework to investigate the Lean startup approach in non-startup context. The third is a general process of Lean internal startup and the evidence of the enablers and inhibitors of implementing it, which are both theory-informed and empirically grounded.

Early internationalising firms: the age effect on entrepreneurial behaviour

The article analyses the age related drivers, which influence young entrepreneurs' behaviour in early internationalising firms in two countries: Lithuania and Italy. Based on a multiple case studies approach, the study provides important insights into the young entrepreneurship stream of research by examining the phenomenon of born global under the lenses of entrepreneur's age. Lots of similarities emerge between young entrepreneurs in early internationalising firms from Lithuania and Italy. Findings suggest that almost all entrepreneurs tend to improve the visibility of the company by participating in national and international start-up contests. These are to be considered, along with the development of young entrepreneurs' professional bridging networks, as key drivers for acquiring capital and necessary connections for company's early internationalisation.

Internationalization of Science-Based Start-Ups: Opportunity or Requirement?

The current economic context is characterized by a global hypercompetition. The modern entrepreneurial approach is, therefore, more and more focused on the identification and actualization of new opportunities, like emerging on the international scene, rather than being based on a rational combination of know-how and of marketing expectations. Nowadays, the phenomena of internationalization affects every type of organization: private and public, for-profit and nonprofit, and large and small. As a consequence of the above, international entrepreneurship (IE) has recently emerged as a research field and this article aims at exploring some its implications. IE may be considered a set of new and innovative activities aiming at the creation of value and growth beyond national borders, by the combination of innovative, proactive, and risk-seeking behaviors that crosses national borders. In this context, we focus on a specific case: knowledge-based firms. In order to achieve this scope, after a preliminary section delineating the research field, we have developed our study in a number of steps that approach the research topic. Firstly, we explore and summarize the literature about research on the emerging area of international entrepreneurship. Then, we present the accumulated knowledge stemming from the relationship between knowledge and internationalization, looking at the phenomena of international start-ups. After this, we explore international entrepreneurship by academic context, identifying the main factors that influence the choice of the market on the part of the knowledge-based firms. Lastly, we characterize knowledge-based entrepreneurship as a virtuous combination of knowledge and entrepreneurship. Finally, we draw conclusions identifying the factors able to boost capacities for such expansion of firms originating from innovation and that have operations suited to a widely ultra-national context.

How Do VCs Foster Startup Innovation? VC Global Strategy and the Startup's Regulatory Uncertainty

In contrast to the U.S., the innovative outcomes of international startups do not always benefit from venture capital (VC) investments. Solving this puzzle requires first understanding how VC firms...

SIMILARITIES OF SUCCESSFUL TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER THROUGH NEW VENTURES

Especially established industries, like the chemical and pharmaceutical industry, rely on effective and efficient technology transfer to maintain their competitiveness. Academic spin-offs, corporate spin-outs, and internal start-ups, as different types of new ventures, can be used for technology transfer from universities and research institutions to companies as well as between or within companies. Especially internal start-ups are a new approach for company internal technology transfer from research departments to business units. Based on 12 case studies from the chemical and pharmaceutical industry in Germany and Switzerland, which were identified and developed by narrative interviews with new ventures and parent organisations, like companies, universities, and research institutions, technology transfer through new ventures has been analysed. Despite the various backgrounds and challenges, the different types of new ventures show much more similarities than dissimilarities. Therefore, learnings from academic spin-offs can be transferred to corporate spin-outs and internal start-ups in the context of technology transfer.

Valuating the Value and Risk of International Start-up Ventures

Fair value depends on an estimate of the both cash flow and risk, which is not an easy task when valuing startup firms. We present a measurement instrument for the future risk of small and risky firms that follows the major propositions in accounting and finance. It differs from other valuation instruments in looking simultaneously at the assets and liabilities. We test the VBB as a measure for value over time by using a database of VC backed innovative companies that oridary DCF valuation fails to capture their value. We show that the VBB is an effective way to capture the dynamics of the value of high risk firms.

Technology Transfer Models Between Industrial Biotechnology Companies and Academic Spin-Offs

Technology Transfer Models Between Industrial Biotechnology Companies and Academic Spin-Offs

Using Social Media to Accelerate the Internationalization of Startups from Inception

Using Social Media to Accelerate the Internationalization of Startups from Inception

Academic spin-offs, corporate spin-outs and company internal start-ups as technology transfer approach

As a rule, a technology transfer gap exists between research and development and the commercialisation of the results. This article investigates the role of new ventures for technology transfer from universities and research institutions as well as between or within companies to close this gap. Based on case studies in Germany and Switzerland, different examples of this technology transfer approach have been analysed. Academic spin-offs can help to transfer technology from universities and research institutions to industry especially if there is the need for additional funding to further develop the technology. Corporate spin-outs can be used for technology transfer between companies as an alternative to closing operations should these no longer fit into the parent organisation. Internal start-ups were identified as a new approach for company internal technology transfer from research departments to business units focused on commercial operations to overcome innovation barriers within companies.

Internationalization of biotechnology start-ups: Geographic location and mimetic behaviour

The objective of this article is to understand the extent to which location in a geographic cluster can explain international alliance formation. Geographic clusters are characterized by several dimensions: agglomeration economies, institutional forces and a manager’s mental models create the environment within the cluster. Therefore, to develop the research propositions, which were tested on a sample of US biotechnology start-ups, the study specifically analysed cluster size and firm competitive behaviour within the cluster to explain the propensity of a start-up to engage in new international alliances. It also examined the potential moderating effect of cluster evolution. Results show that merely being located in a geographic cluster in itself does not increase the probability of forming a new international alliance. Within clusters, internationalization of start-ups through alliance formation results mainly from mimetic behaviour.

International Entrepreneurship and Hermeneutic Phenomenology: A Study of Successful International Business Development Teams

The purpose of this research paper is to present a literature review for a qualitative research study regarding entrepreneurs and their international start-up organization (born-global) development teams. The proposed methodology is to collect and interpret data from a mixed-method approach focusing on a hermeneutic phenomenology perspective. Using this methodology, I will conduct in-depth interviews and two written exercises with five entrepreneurs who have built an organization through the aid of a select group of individuals with specialized experience and who perform unique tasks that augment the entrepreneur’s expertise and experience. As examples, these teams might consist of members such as but not limited to the Administrator (entrepreneur), Attorneys, Accountants, Advertising specialists, Administrative professionals, and a web developer. These development teams will be referred to as the A-Team and function as the primary internal network. From the experience and perspective of the entrepreneur, the A-Team members will be studied on the individual member level to establish an interpretation of the qualities and characteristics as well as how this may relate to the team functioning as a complete unit.

The Interrelated Impact of Social Networks and Knowledge Acquisition on Internationalisation Process of High-Tech Small Firms

The foreign development of high-tech start-ups is an important issue, since international activity requires specific knowledge that new firms may find it difficult to locate and acquire. It has been found that the pattern of foreign development in high-tech start-ups differs from that of conventional companies, starting to act in foreign markets soon after their establishment. This study utilizes a social capital approach, based on embeddedness prospective, to identify the possible resources useful to realize abroad both the knowledge acquisition and the knowledge exploitation, reinforcing the internationalization propensity of start-ups. We seek to articulate, by drawing on social capital theory and its link to knowledge concept, how social network ties may influence internationalization of start-ups. Basing on research of Yli-Renko, Autio e Sapienza (2001), we argue that different dimensions of social capital embedded in relationships between high-tech start-ups and their foreign customers improve the start-ups’ knowledge acquisition from these relationships and that this acquired knowledge may then be exploited for competitive advantage abroad. The hypotheses are tested with face to face survey data from start-ups in Italy. Our findings confirm the hypothesis that the internationalization propensity of start-ups is conditioned by social relationships, which may either facilitate or bind such a propensity through a direct influence on processes both of knowledge acquisition and of knowledge exploitation abroad. Consequently, by affirming the strategic link between social capital, knowledge acquisition and knowledge exploitation, we seek to contribute to a further convergence between the domains of entrepreneurship and internationalization research.

Who Makes You Central?

The importance of network centrality for the success of international start-ups has been frequently emphasized. Research so far has however been mute regarding the question of how firms can increase their network centrality. This paper applies a knowledge-based framework to analyze changes in the structural position of firms within their research network. Analyzing longitudinal event history data for the complete German biotech population for 1995 till the end of 2006 our findings show that the prior international alliance history matters for the status within a firms network. Alliances with international partners as well as alliances with partners from a variety of countries enhance the subsequent movement towards a more central position in the research network. However, multi-partner alliances inhibit the subsequent movement towards a central position, pointing to challenges in managing a portfolio of simultaneous alliances. The findings emphasize the necessity for a young firm to enlarge its experience with international alliances from a variety of countries but to concentrate its efforts with regards to the number of simultaneous partners.