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The purpose of this paper is to investigate how resource-constrained, knowledge-intensive firms capitalise on the knowledge from collaboration with big-science centres. It pays particular attention to what kind of knowledge a firm obtains and how it can be efficiently used in exploring and exploiting opportunities in international markets.

The empirical basis for the study is a longitudinal case study of knowledge-intensive Estonian companies that collaborate with the European Space Agency (ESA). A rich data set was collected over three years.

By studying the inward and outward activities of the two case companies collaborating with the ESA, the authors found that the internationalisation process of these firms had unique characteristics. Their international expansion was not driven by increasing market knowledge and reducing risk or uncertainty, but by resource seeking for research and development efforts. It was a cyclical, non-linear process, which was advanced by co-creation, learning and exploitation of the emergent knowledge, leading to an improved network position and identification of further opportunities.

The focus was on knowledge-intensive, resource-constrained firms and their collaboration with big-science centres. The transfer of the proposed framework to another context may not be straightforward. The authors relied on informants from the firms, thus ignoring the view of their partner, the big-science centre. It may be that because of this perspective, the authors did not capture some aspects of the collaboration. A broader range of cases would have provided more powerful support to the findings. Although the cases were sufficient for theory refinement and building a tentative framework, they also call for further cases that would clarify whether these conclusions would be valid for other companies.

Collaboration with big-science centres provides companies with access to diverse types of knowledge. However, its impact on the future success in internationalisation also depends on other factors, such as the firm’s absorptive capacity and technological competence.

Governments invest substantially on the development of big-science centres with the expectation that they would have significant knowledge spillovers on the technology development. A more qualitative approach to impact assessment opens new ideas how to develop their activities and in particular their collaboration with SMEs.

The study reassesses the theory on the internationalisation process of the firm and gives voice to companies which have been marginalised in earlier research.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse how dialogue can be used to promote post-acquisition socio-cultural integration. Specifically, it addresses questions regarding when and how companies can utilise dialogue to generate positivity regarding socio-cultural integration.

A single case study approach was adopted owing to its suitability for creating in-depth understanding in the context of socio-cultural integration. Primary data were collected via interviews, an employee satisfaction survey, and participant observation. Secondary data were obtained from the case company’s internal materials, such as strategies, integration workflows, and employee magazines. Analysis methods included descriptive statistics and thematic qualitative analysis.

The findings suggest that dialogue can be used to create positivity regarding socio-cultural integration throughout the stages of unfreezing, moving, and refreezing by actively engaging employees in voicing, listening, respecting, and suspending. It is proposed that cultural conflict during post-acquisition socio-cultural integration can be overcome through the generation of positivity; dialogue enables the collective management of emotions during post-acquisition integration by offering a platform for creating positivity and social cohesion; and due to its collaborative and engaging nature, dialogue provides an especially effective means of communication for overcoming cross-cultural conflict.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to showcase dialogue as a specific means of communication for creating positivity during cross-border socio-cultural integration. This study reached beyond comparative cultural research to offer views on positivity, emotion during socio-cultural integration, and dialogue as means for overcoming cross-cultural conflict.

The concept of global mindset was introduced more than a decade ago as a prerequisite for successful internationalisation of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). However, the pace of global integration and globalisation has accelerated, and complexity has increased. Therefore, the authors ask: To what extent is global mindset still a critical driver for successful international expansion of SMEs? We are particularly interested in learning how global mindset is reflected in the decision making of internationalising SMEs in Finland. To answer this question, we test four propositions which concern the relationship between global mindset, decision-making logic and SME performance. Our empirical study is based on a cross-sectional sample of Finnish SMEs, and the authors find that global mindset seems to be linked to both effectual decision-making logic and improved international performance. On the other hand, in our data set effectual decision making and SME performance were not linked; thus, global mindset predicts international rather than overall performance of the Finnish SMEs. Overall, this study confirms the continued relevance of the global mindset concept. Furthermore, it indicates the connection between global mindset and entrepreneurial decision making and that their joint effect is relevant when explaining entrepreneurial internationalisation.

A growing number of individuals identify as cosmopolitans, that is, citizens of the world. They voluntarily move from country to country in pursuit of self-fulfilment in both life and work, and construct a cosmopolitan identity in the process. With the help of three entrepreneurial narratives the authors investigated how cosmopolitan disposition affects entrepreneurial behaviour. The authors found that cosmopolitan entrepreneurs share many common entrepreneurial characteristics, such as openness to opportunities, a need for achievement and the locus of control. However, they also challenge the understanding of entrepreneurship by downplaying the role of environment and interpreting success in an unconventional way. The study demonstrates that this growing group of entrepreneurs deserves more attention from entrepreneurship scholars.

The purpose of this research is to describe and analyse the change process related to internationalisation among three internationalising Irish SMEs.

The authors employ a retrospective case study. The data were collected with face‐to‐face interviews with the founding CEOs.

The study indicates that the changes in SME internationalisation would be more multidimensional than assumed. The level of change due to internationalisation varies considerably and the different types of change are closely intertwined. However, the cases verified that the framework created is a well‐functioning tool for analysing such changes.

The study is an exploratory one, and the findings are based on three cases. Therefore the results can only be considered tentative. Additionally, the retrospective nature of the research design is challenging, as it puts weight on the respondents' memory and ability to identify change.

Based on the findings SMEs might be able to anticipate future changes in the environment and adapt to them. This could also be reflected in their strategic planning. Additionally, the information can be utilised in organising public support for internationalising SMEs.

In contrast to the mainstream research which focuses on the change process, the study examines the content of change, i.e. what actually changed in the company during internationalisation.

Purpose – This study analyzes international new ventures (INVs) by means of the classification developed by Oviatt and McDougall (1994): global start-ups (GSUs) are compared with other types of INVs.

Design/methodology/approach – The empirical data for the study were collected via a Web-based survey of Finnish ICT companies. Particular emphasis was placed on the operationalization of the key constructs as well as on the sample formation, in which both the number of international markets served and the coordination of international activities were taken into consideration.

Findings – The findings of this study indicate that GSUs are particularly driven by the international growth orientation of the top management. They also seem to perform better than other types of INVs.

Practical implications – From the managerial point of view, the findings of this study indicate that managers of INVs should be encouraged to internationalize their value chain as a whole, despite the risks. However, those managers making these decisions should also be aware of the capabilities needed for managing the global value networks they create.

Originality/Value – This exploratory study reveals that studying INVs from a holistic perspective – including both inward and outward activities – produces interesting findings and opens new avenues for future research. This theme clearly deserves more attention. Our classification of INVs into smaller subgroups also proved to be fruitful, not least concerning GSUs.

In order to respond to the call for a broader perspective on the internationalization of entrepreneurial firms, this study aims to bring the business model concept to the context of international entrepreneurship, with special emphasis on the notion of value formation and value exchange at company interfaces.

This is a cross‐case study based on qualitative data from business model workshops with key company informants in each case firm.

The findings of the study indicate that, although the business models of firms with comparable positions may appear similar, there are fine‐grained differences both in their activities and in their value formation. In addition, the data collection workshops revealed that firms tend to neglect the inspection of their incentives to their partners, as they concentrate on value formation to end‐customers.

From the managerial point of view, the study shows how the managers of international entrepreneurial firms may describe and analyze their business model, including the whole value chain, systematically from the perspective of value exchange. Firms may gain insights from examining the business models of similar organizations.

Even though the role of the business model has also been discussed in previous studies, it has not been so explicitly pronounced in the domain of international entrepreneurship. The paper contributes to previous business model conceptualizations by adding the notion of value exchange at the company interfaces.

This paper aims to analyse the role of market orientation in the internationalisation of small software firms.

The study combines qualitative case studies with quantitative data from the firms in question.

Market orientation in the internationalisation of knowledge‐intensive small firms consists of three elements: customer orientation, competitor orientation and value‐network coordination. Achieving a successful balance between these elements will considerably smoothen the internationalisation process.

The results of this study suggest that small companies should consider their market‐oriented behaviour in line with their value network. The role of market orientation may also vary according to market‐pull or technology‐push conditions.

This study is among the first empirical contributions to combine the internationalisation and market‐orientation approaches in studying SMEs. It also contributes to achieving a better understanding of the market‐orientation concept from the perspective of small high‐technology firms.

Competition in expert services has forced the service providers to consider a more customer‐oriented strategy. Unfortunately, for many of them customers are a faceless “mass”. In order to facilitate a restructuring of the business, SME managers were asked about their needs for such services. The empirical analysis is based on the responses of 400 Finnish SMEs from various industries. The results indicate that the relationship between a firm's life cycle and the need for expert services should not be overlooked.