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This study is a response to the paucity of research into early internationalising firms based in India. We seek to explore the internationalisation of small and new Indian firms and the decision-making process of their entrepreneurs/managers.

The study uses original, primary data gathered from in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted with the managers of six such firms to explore the factors that might facilitate, motivate, or impede the efforts undertaken by young Indian firms to embark upon a process of early internationalisation.

Our findings suggest that, in line with their counterparts from other countries, the early internationalisation of small firms from India is driven primarily by the search for more favourable demand conditions overseas and is facilitated by new technologies. However, we find no evidence suggesting that the emergence of early internationalising firms from India is driven by the search for more favourable production conditions or by the direct international experience and exposure of their founders. In line with prior scholarly work, our research suggests that government support is an important facilitator of early internationalisation of small firms.

The study provides insights into the internationalisation process of INVs from India and contributes to broadening our understanding of the behaviour of firms under a set of specific institutional conditions. Based on our findings, we develop a conceptual framework which can be useful for further empirical testing. Our study is also one of the few to be conducted on a sample of INVs from India.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the early internationalization and the performance of small firms in technology‐intensive industries.

Using a sample of 278 small US firms in technology‐intensive industries, this paper employs quantitative methodologies to test hypotheses.

The findings indicate that such organizational variables as firm size and international experience have a non‐linear, inverted U‐shaped relationship with these firms’ early internationalization. Some strategic variables, such as R&D intensity, have significant impacts, whereas others, such as advertising intensity and strategic alliances, have none. However, the interactions between these strategic variables have a more significant influence upon these firms’ early internationalization than do the individual strategic variables in isolation. Moreover, early internationalization has significant and positive impacts on the performance of these firms.

The paper’s findings have important managerial implications. The paper identifies the driving forces for the early globalization of small firms and provides useful guidelines for managers to manage these factors in their efforts to maximize firm performance.

The paper differentiates organizational factors from strategic factors against the background of small “born globals” in technology industries and investigates the interactions among these internal factors and external factors, i.e. the environments of technology industries. Findings of non‐linear relationships among these factors shed light on the strategy determinants of a unique group of small to medium‐sized enterprises and their performance.

Applying the institution-based view and the resource-based view, this study explores how state ownership influences early internationalization of emerging market firms, how it interacts with firm size to have an impact and how the proportion of SOEs moderates this interaction effect.

Based on a sample of 717 Chinese listed firms, this study uses Poisson regression, ordinary least square regression and Heckman two-stage estimation to analyze the data.

This study finds state ownership does not influence early internationalization, state ownership and firm size jointly can have a significant impact, and the proportion of SOEs in an industry sector can moderate this interaction effect.

This study enriches our understanding of the impact of home government involvement on internationalization strategies of emerging market firms, contributes to early internationalization research by building the theoretical mechanisms about these direct and interaction effects and by providing empirical results and provides important advices to firm decision-makers and government policymakers. By examining these interaction effects, it also provides a solution to the theoretical conflict created by the two opposing effects of state ownership.

The purpose of this paper is to explore factors leading to the early internationalization of international new ventures (INVs) in Lithuania – a transition economy in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The determinants of early internationalization were grouped into three categories: entrepreneurial, firm-related and contextual determinants, and their impact on high-tech INVs that operate in emerging economies was investigated.

The research design is a case study approach. Case studies are presented of six Lithuanian entrepreneurial firms that demonstrated successful internationalization and rapidly expanded into foreign markets during the preceding year.

Region-specific theoretical propositions are provided for new ventures in CEE emerging economies. The results reveal that essential factors leading to the early internationalization of INVs operating in Lithuania, a transition economy, are entrepreneurial factors. Internationalization of INVs from CEE emerging economies is driven by push factors related to domestic market specifics; however, institutional factors do not seem to have a significant impact on INVs’ internationalization.

The results of the analysis of the case studies are not generalizable to the entire population of INVs in Lithuania. However, the results are substantial considering the success of high-tech Lithuanian firms that started their international activities shortly after their inception. Future research can contribute to the literature by seeking to apply international new venture theory in the context of emerging economies with larger samples and a focus on distinct patterns of internationalization.

The findings contribute to the literature on international entrepreneurship by exploring early internationalization of INVs in the context of transition economies in CEE. This study’s contribution is based on theory building, especially in understanding the driving factors related to the early internationalization of new ventures founded by Lithuanian entrepreneurs. International entrepreneurship studies in the CEE, as well as Baltic countries, are limited, and this research contributes to filling this gap.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the differential effects of national export promotion policies (EPPs) on firms’ early internationalization using the institution-based view (IBV) as our theoretical foundation. Early or speedy internationalization is an important topic for academics, executives and policy makers. However, the effect of the regulatory dimension of institutions incorporating governmental policies on firms’ early internationalization remains unexplored in the literature.

The study was survey-based and the authors engaged in quantitative analysis using data drawn from the apparel industry in a least-developed country (LDC), i.e. Bangladesh. The authors employed 174 valid questionnaires in the analysis. To test the proposed hypotheses, an ordered-logistic regression modeling technique was used.

The findings reveal a positive effect of those national policies focusing on market development, guarantee-related and technical support schemes. Two individual elements of direct finance-related assistance, namely, bank loans and cash subsidy are also found to be influential.

The study contributes to the literature and extends the IBV by establishing that the industry-specific regulatory policies designed by home country governments can play a critical role in international expansion of new ventures from an LDC. In particular, the study established the critical role of national EPPs in driving firms’ early internationalization and thereby, contributing to the international marketing and international entrepreneurship (IE) literature. Least-developed countries provide different institutional environments for entrepreneurship. They thus provide an atypical context within the field of IE. By incorporating sample firms from an LDC, the authors address the knowledge gap related to those countries. The implications of the authors’ findings for national and enterprise development policies are also considered.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature on emerging multinationals by studying the internationalization strategies of two established companies in the Indian pharmaceutical industry: Ranbaxy and Wockhardt.

The study utilizes a longitudinal case‐study approach to capture Ranbaxy's and Wockhardt's dynamic internationalization patterns. An extensive literature review using recently published works, government documents, and organizational reports was employed to give a clearer description of the two case companies.

The internationalization patterns of Ranbaxy and Wockhardt suggest that the mainstream internationalization models are more effective in explaining exploitative learning in terms of utilizing the firm's existing knowledge stock in the early stages of internationalization, while the emerging internationalization models (e.g. the LLL framework and accelerated internationalization) are more effective in explaining exploratory learning in terms of seeking novel knowledge flows in firms' later stages of internationalization.

The empirical base is limited and the use of case studies has its shortcomings (e.g. in terms of sample size, generalizations, etc.). As such, the exploratory findings of this study must be further verified and extended at other sites, especially to firms operating in regulated industries in other emerging countries. Second, the author analyzed the decision to enter a foreign market, without studying subsequent performance and its effects on further entries. The accelerated international growth may have negative consequences for the two cases, as time compression diseconomies may emerge when the firm has a fast foreign expansion pace. Further research using data from other industries and countries, and taking into account entry mode and performance could shed more light into this controversial issue. Third, the author only compared an early‐mover and a latecomer in the comparative case analysis. One of critical topics for further study is to compare different three types of MNEs, e.g. latecomer, newcomer and early‐mover, from the same industry to understand how their geography of learning and knowledge acquisition are influenced by their internationalization and locational choices.

Overseas acquisition, as compared to greenfield investment (e.g. wholly owned subsidiaries), offers more benefits to Indian pharmaceutical firms. Overseas acquisition provides access to established marketing networks, augments Indian firms' ownership advantages with new products and other firm‐specific intangible assets and, offers economic gains from improved operational synergies.

The paper is one of the few which has dealt with an important aspect of firm internationalization, i.e. country selection, the sequence of internationalization across foreign markets and their modes of integration.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the mediating effects of Chief Executive officer (CEO) attributes on the earliness of internationalization and performance in context of Indian small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

The proposed framework is tested through analysis of a sample of 102 internationalized SMEs of the engineering industry in the Bangalore city region of India.

Results highlight that CEOs age and educational background moderates between early internationalization and performance in the Indian SME context.

Overall results facilitate in leveraging the decision-maker’s capabilities to successfully formulate and strategize their international marketing efforts to achieve higher performance.

The study enriches the importance of CEO attributes in influencing the early internationalization and degree of internationalization in the context of an emerging economy where studies are limited.

This paper aimed to evaluate the differences in the use and knowledge of export promotion programs (EPPs) between Brazilian SMEs that internationalized early and SMEs that internationalized in a gradual, traditional fashion. Additionally, it tested hypotheses that distinguish these two types of SME internationalization processes in an emerging market context.

The authors tested four hypotheses in a sample of 540 SME Brazilian exporters. The sample was divided into two groups according to the born global (BG) criteria: 379 SMEs with gradual or traditional internationalization (TI) and 161 SMEs with early internationalization (EI).

The results indicate that Brazilian EI SMEs operate in more countries and continents than TI SMEs. In emerging countries such as Brazil, the domestic market continues to play an important role both for SMEs that internationalize early and those whose process is slower. Even though logistic regression could not classify the sample of TI and EI SMEs according to their knowledge about EPPs, the results led to the idea that EI SMEs currently use more specific EPPs than do TI SMEs.

Managers of successful SMEs from emerging markets need to incorporate EPPs into their internationalization strategy. In emerging markets with large domestic markets, SME managers can meet their growth needs by exploiting opportunities in both domestic and international markets.

Research on the early internationalization of SMEs has long focused on SMEs from developed markets and on internal factors. Moreover, the effects of EPPs on the firm' performance of large and SME firms has also been the subject of study. The value of this paper relies on the intersection of EPPs and the early internationalization of SMEs, even for firms in developed markets.

The purpose of the paper is twofold. Firstly, it provides an inclusive categorical framework of internationalisation patterns for small- and medium-sized enterprises, and secondly, it presents unique evidence from a developing country and corroborates the proposed framework.

A cross-sectional convergent mixed-method design was applied to this research. A phenomenological design was used to develop the typology framework, and subsequently, practical evidence was collected through a cross-sectional survey using a self-reporting questionnaire. A two-step hierarchical clustering analysis was performed to test the framework’s robustness, and a set of characteristics was compared between the patterns via a one-way analysis of variance, F-test.

The robustness of the constructed categorical framework of 32 internationalisation patterns is substantiated, suggesting that this framework produces veracious discrimination between all patterns of internationalisation. Evidence revealed that the majority of firms showed regional and incremental internationalising behaviour. No true born globals were observed; however, several other early or fast patterns such as “born-international”, “global new venture” and “born-again regional” emerged.

This paper presents a categorical framework and provides evidence of the behaviour of internationalising SMEs from a Middle Eastern developing economy. The categorical framework constructed in this paper uses predefined thresholds, and it is of value because it is inclusive, rigid and incisive. This paper also provides essential insights into the sub-patterns of internationalisation, specifically the born-again and regional phenomenon of internationalisation.

The authors seek to advance the understanding of small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) internationalization at the regional level and examine the role of home market institutions in this process.

The authors analyze hypotheses with data from SMEs in five country markets and from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. A cluster analysis establishes the regional diversification patterns (based on regional diversification scope, speed and rhythm) and a multinomial regression tests the effect of home market institutions on their adoption.

The results offer a refined picture of SME regional diversification by revealing three patterns: intra-regionally focused firms, late inter-region diversifiers and early inter-region diversifiers. They also suggest that the adoption of these patterns is determined by SMEs' home market institutions.

The authors develop a nuanced understanding of SME internationalization by building upon and expanding the regionalization rationale in the internationalization patterns literature. Additionally, the authors address the acknowledged, yet rarely investigated, country-level determinants of internationalization patterns.