IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/zag/market/v32y2020i1p47-64.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Role of Social and Business Networks in the Internationalization of Born Global Firms: Evidence from Serbia

Author

Listed:
  • Sanja Mitić

    (Belgrade University, Faculty of Economics)

  • Branko Rakita

    (Belgrade University, Faculty of Economics)

Abstract

Purpose – This paper examines the specifics of born global firms from a post-transitional European country with regard to the role of social and business networks in the internationalization process. Design/Methodology/Approach – Given that born global firms are an emerging phenomenon in South-Eastern Europe, the research method was a case study. Four cases were judgmentally chosen for the analysis. Literal and theoretical replication was applied. Findings and implications – Regarding the role which social and business networks play in starting and stimulating the internationalization in post-transitional countries, the results indicate similar patterns of this contemporary phenomenon to those in developed countries. The main implications for entrepreneurs and policy makers may be found in the area of fostering cooperation between small firms and enhancing their personal and business interactions through the development of industrial/technology parks, industrial clusters, and business incubators. Limitations – The results have to be taken with some reservations due to a small number of firms examined and the fact that a half of them are from the information technology industry. Originality – The study contributes to the research of the born global phenomenon by addressing the issue in the South-Eastern European region, where it has not been widely investigated, especially in the context of a country with a socialist heritage.

Suggested Citation

  • Sanja Mitić & Branko Rakita, 2020. "The Role of Social and Business Networks in the Internationalization of Born Global Firms: Evidence from Serbia," Tržište/Market, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, vol. 32(1), pages 47-64.
    • Handle: RePEc:zag:market:v:32:y:2020:i:1:p:47-64
    DOI: 10.22598/mt/2020.32.1.47
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.22598/mt/2020.32.1.47
    Download Restriction: None
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22598/mt/2020.32.1.47?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Martina Musteen & Deepak K. Datta & Marcus M. Butts, 2014. "Do International Networks and Foreign Market Knowledge Facilitate SME Internationalization? Evidence from the Czech Republic," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 38(4), pages 749-774, July.
    2. Freeman, Susan & Hutchings, Kate & Lazaris, Miria & Zyngier, Suzanne, 2010. "A model of rapid knowledge development: The smaller born-global firm," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 70-84, February.
    3. Olivier Lamotte & Ana Colovic, 2015. "Early internationalization of new ventures from emerging countries: The case of transition economies," Post-Print hal-01153359, HAL.
    4. Zhou, Lianxi & Wu, Aiqi, 2014. "Earliness of internationalization and performance outcomes: Exploring the moderating effects of venture age and international commitment," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 132-142.
    5. Gabrielsson, Mika & Kirpalani, V.H. Manek & Dimitratos, Pavlos & Solberg, Carl Arthur & Zucchella, Antonella, 2008. "Born globals: Propositions to help advance the theory," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 385-401, August.
    6. Gary A Knight & S Tamar Cavusgil, 2004. "Innovation, organizational capabilities, and the born-global firm," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 35(2), pages 124-141, March.
    7. Lianxi Zhou & Wei-ping Wu & Xueming Luo, 2007. "Internationalization and the performance of born-global SMEs: the mediating role of social networks," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 38(4), pages 673-690, July.
    8. Shon Ferguson & Magnus Henrekson & Louise Johannesson, 2021. "Getting the facts right on born globals," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 259-276, January.
    9. Nordman, Emilia Rovira & Melén, Sara, 2008. "The impact of different kinds of knowledge for the internationalization process of Born Globals in the biotech business," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 171-185, March.
    10. Gerschewski, Stephan & Rose, Elizabeth L. & Lindsay, Valerie J., 2015. "Understanding the drivers of international performance for born global firms: An integrated perspective," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 558-575.
    11. S Tamer Cavusgil & Gary Knight, 2015. "The born global firm: An entrepreneurial and capabilities perspective on early and rapid internationalization," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 46(1), pages 3-16, January.
    12. Nicole Coviello & Martin Cox, 2006. "The resource dynamics of international new venture networks," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 4(2), pages 113-132, September.
    13. Bruderl, Josef & Preisendorfer, Peter, 1998. "Network Support and the Success of Newly Founded Businesses," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 213-225, May.
    14. Madsen, Tage Koed & Servais, Per, 1997. "The internationalization of Born Globals: An evolutionary process?," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 6(6), pages 561-583, December.
    15. Weerawardena, Jay & Mort, Gillian Sullivan & Liesch, Peter W. & Knight, Gary, 2007. "Conceptualizing accelerated internationalization in the born global firm: A dynamic capabilities perspective," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 294-306, September.
    16. Luis Dib & Angela Rocha & Jorge Silva, 2010. "The internationalization process of Brazilian software firms and the born global phenomenon: Examining firm, network, and entrepreneur variables," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 8(3), pages 233-253, September.
    17. Sharma, D. Deo & Blomstermo, Anders, 2003. "The internationalization process of Born Globals: a network view," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 12(6), pages 739-753, December.
    18. Cannone, Giusy & Ughetto, Elisa, 2014. "Born globals: A cross-country survey on high-tech start-ups," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 272-283.
    19. Jerzy Cieslik & Eugene Kaciak, 2009. "The Speed Of Internationalization Of Entrepreneurial Start-Ups In A Transition Environment," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 14(04), pages 375-392.
    20. Iveta Simberova & Eliska Rekova, 2016. "Phenomenon of “Born Globals†in the internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Czech Republic," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(4), pages 120-129.
    21. Gary A Knight & S Tamer Cavusgil, 2004. "Innovation, organizational capabilities, and the born-global firm," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 35(4), pages 334-334, July.
    22. Nicole E Coviello, 2006. "The network dynamics of international new ventures," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 37(5), pages 713-731, September.
    23. Alex Rialp & Josep Rialp & David Urbano & Yancy Vaillant, 2005. "The Born-Global Phenomenon: A Comparative Case Study Research," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 133-171, June.
    24. Eberhard, Manuel & Craig, Justin, 2013. "The evolving role of organisational and personal networks in international market venturing," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 385-397.
    25. Uner, M. Mithat & Kocak, Akin & Cavusgil, Erin & Cavusgil, Salih Tamer, 2013. "Do barriers to export vary for born globals and across stages of internationalization? An empirical inquiry in the emerging market of Turkey," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 800-813.
    26. Lidia Danik & Izabela Kowalik & Petr Král, 2016. "A Comparative Analysis of Polish and Czech International New Ventures," Central European Business Review, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2016(2), pages 57-73.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rubina Romanello & Maria Chiarvesio, 2019. "Early internationalizing firms: 2004–2018," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 172-219, June.
    2. Joan Freixanet & Ryan Federo, 2022. "When Born Globals Grow Up: A Review and Agenda for Research on the Performance of Maturing Early Internationalizers," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 62(6), pages 817-857, December.
    3. Figueiredo, Marco & Ferreira, João J. & Vrontis, Demetris, 2024. "Perspectives on dynamic capabilities and ambidexterity in born-global companies: Theoretical framing, review and research agenda," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(1).
    4. Farhad Uddin Ahmed & Louis Brennan, 2021. "A review of methodological diversity within the domain of international entrepreneurship," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 256-299, June.
    5. Dzikowski, Piotr, 2018. "A bibliometric analysis of born global firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 281-294.
    6. Jones, Marian V. & Coviello, Nicole & Tang, Yee Kwan, 2011. "International Entrepreneurship research (1989–2009): A domain ontology and thematic analysis," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 632-659.
    7. Knight, Gary A. & Liesch, Peter W., 2016. "Internationalization: From incremental to born global," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 93-102.
    8. Rimante Sedziniauskiene & Jurgita Sekliuckiene & Antonella Zucchella, 2019. "Networks’ Impact on the Entrepreneurial Internationalization: A Literature Review and Research Agenda," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 59(5), pages 779-823, October.
    9. Jean-François Hennart & Antonio Majocchi & Birgit Hagen, 2021. "What’s so special about born globals, their entrepreneurs or their business model?," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(9), pages 1665-1694, December.
    10. Nowinski, Witold & Rialp, Alex, 2013. "Drivers and strategies of international new ventures from a Central European transition economy," Journal of East European Management Studies, Rainer Hampp Verlag, vol. 18(2), pages 191-231.
    11. Rubina Romanello & Maria Chiarvesio, 2017. "Turning point: when born globals enter post-entry stage," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 177-206, June.
    12. Bembom, Michael & Schwens, Christian, 2018. "The role of networks in early internationalizing firms: A systematic review and future research agenda," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 679-694.
    13. Maldea, Radu-Andrei, 2023. "Winning when Going Global – On the Role of Heritage and Strategic Moves for Internationalization Endeavors of Start-ups," Junior Management Science (JUMS), Junior Management Science e. V., vol. 8(2), pages 532-568.
    14. Farhad Uddin Ahmed & Louis Brennan, 2019. "The impact of Founder’s human capital on firms’ extent of early internationalisation: Evidence from a least-developed country," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 36(3), pages 615-659, September.
    15. Oliva, Fábio Lotti & Teberga, Pedro Marins Freire & Testi, Lucas Israel Oliveira & Kotabe, Masaaki & Giudice, Manlio Del & Kelle, Peter & Cunha, Miguel Pina, 2022. "Risks and critical success factors in the internationalization of born global startups of industry 4.0: A social, environmental, economic, and institutional analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    16. Indujeeva Peiris & Michèle Akoorie & Paresha Sinha, 2012. "International entrepreneurship: A critical analysis of studies in the past two decades and future directions for research," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 10(4), pages 279-324, December.
    17. Paul, Justin & Parthasarathy, Sundar & Gupta, Parul, 2017. "Exporting challenges of SMEs: A review and future research agenda," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 327-342.
    18. Jiang, Guohua & Kotabe, Masaaki & Zhang, Feng & Hao, Andy W. & Paul, Justin & Wang, Cheng Lu, 2020. "The determinants and performance of early internationalizing firms: A literature review and research agenda," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(4).
    19. Quan Anh Nguyen & Gillian Sullivan Mort, 0. "Conceptualising organisational-level and microfoundational capabilities: an integrated view of born-globals’ internationalisation," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-23.
    20. Paul, Justin, 2020. "SCOPE framework for SMEs: A new theoretical lens for success and internationalization," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 219-230.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zag:market:v:32:y:2020:i:1:p:47-64. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Tanja Komarac (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fefzghr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.