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Attempts to consider how a founder has reduced equivocality in relation to support networks and reducing risks, especially in an international environment. Presents the case studies of five Danish and Australian born global companies. Considers different global models and their limitations. Presents the findings of recent surveys in this area. Concludes that internationalization has not been the primary objective in the founding process and gives direction for further research.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the antecedent and outcomes of different types of innovation as complementary growth strategies, which may enable exporting small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to achieve success in export markets.

This study is based upon a quantitative survey on Norwegian exporting SMEs. A total of 380 questionnaires were received representing 16.8 per cent response rate. A structural equation modelling analysis is carried out on the sample.

The study finds positive and significant associations between the firm’s growth ambition and the pursuance of product and business model innovations. Moreover, the firm’s export degree and scope has a significant and positive association with its product innovation strategy, but the association with its business model innovation is significantly negative.

The study’s findings indicate that future studies should incorporate different types of innovation strategies since their associations with export performance differ substantially. Treating innovation as a general construct appears to be too simplistic.

The study’s results indicate that focus on product innovation enhances the export performance of SMEs, but that focus on business model innovation has a negative impact. The latter may be too costly and distract focus from the firm’s core competences, whereas product innovation can be assumed to provide further competitive strength.

By taking a holistic approach towards innovation, this study addresses a gap in the literature on innovation and exporting in SMEs in order to investigate the association between different types of innovation-based growth strategies and the firms’ export prosperity.

The main purpose of this study is to increase the scholarly understanding of managerial growth aspirations in small firms. Research has shown that managers' aspirations are important to ensure firms' growth, but researchers know less of where their aspirations come from and how variation in these aspirations shapes organizational outcomes. By focusing on two growth strategies of particular importance for small firms – innovation and internationalization – the authors map out how managers' ambitious aspirations may create negative organizational effects and also how they may counteract such effects.

The study employs structural equation modeling (SEM) on a sample of 249 Norwegian small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The findings of this study suggest that managerial experience is associated with high aspirations as well as high change effectiveness on the managerial team. The authors find that ambitious growth aspirations are associated with exploration in the form of radical innovation but also lead to reduced employee well-being. Managers' level of perceived change effectiveness, on the other hand, is positively associated with radical innovation and also raises employee well-being.

This study highlights the positive and negative effects of managerial aspirations on different organizational outcomes. Further, it shows that managerial teams working effectively together in the face of change is important for the well-being of employees. Results confirm the positive relationship between aspirations for growth and applied growth strategies in organizations. The data sample is, however, extracted from one country only, and the authors cannot exclude the possibility that findings will be different elsewhere.

To ensure successful growth, managers should combine ambitious aspirations with attention to the top management team's (TMT) experience levels and change effectiveness. Assessment of possible needs for development and adjustments could ensure growth processes with limited negative effects for employee well-being.

By distinguishing between growth through international sales (exploitation) and growth through a more change-intensive strategy of radical innovation (exploration), the authors investigate how variations in managerial aspirations and perceptions influence organizational growth processes. This paper paints a unique picture of how managers can be both the cause and cure of employee well-being in change-demanding situations.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the process by which piggybacking partners attempt to overcome the challenges of interfirm diversity when entering foreign markets.

The authors present a longitudinal case study following the collaboration between a rider (a small software developer) and carrier (a global player in software solution distribution) as a means of co-creating value for global customers in the pharmaceutical industry.

The authors find that despite differential size and incongruent organizational cultures, top managers were still initially able to facilitate collaboration through various knowledge-sharing initiatives, but that these efforts were subsequently undermined by middle managers (due to misaligned incentives), which prevented both parties from reaping the gains of piggybacking on global markets.

The findings have a number of implications for academics and practitioners alike. Theoretical implications include treating piggybacking as a special case of indirect exporting with particular challenges for knowledge exchange and trust building.

The authors offer managerial implications for reconciling divergent organizational cultures, partner selection and incentive alignment.

This appears to be the first paper to empirically assess the viability of piggybacking as a foreign entry mode by examining the crucial processes of knowledge sharing and trust development within piggybacking arrangements.

This article shows the main results of a survey of 134 export activities in manufacturing firms in Denmark. It analyses the association between export performance on the one hand and export marketing policy, firm characteristics and market characteristics on the other hand. Bivariate and multivariate analyses are performed with the purpose of identifying critical export marketing success factors. Links to previous research are discussed and implications for export marketing management considered. The article concludes by discussing future research on successful export marketing management.

Market orientation is often mentioned as a key factor for the success of domestic and international activities, but our knowledge about differences in degrees of market orientation remains limited for firms that have varying degrees of international activities. In particular, the literature is very sparse with regard to studies of newly established firms. Our study empirically explores this gap examining how different types of new ventures adopt two strategic components of market orientation – customer orientation and competitor orientation. Our empirical evidence is based on responses from CEOs of 249 Danish manufacturing firms that are categorized into four groups, depending on their degree of international operations within the first three years. We demonstrate that the most internationally oriented firms seem to be the most market oriented in general. They are significantly more competitor-oriented than domestically oriented firms, but the results regarding customer orientation are more mixed. Interestingly, we find indications that the strategic emphasis on customer orientation may be higher for firms with domestic operations than for those with limited international operations. We discuss implications for research and managers.

This review aims to focus on the phenomenon of infant firms that operate internationally right from or close to inception, so‐called international new ventures (INVs) or born global firms. It also aims to provide a comprehensive review of the literature on INVs from the time when such firms emerged in the literature in the early 1990s up until today.

The study is a systematic review of top journals within entrepreneurship, marketing and management over the years 1992‐2004. The focus is primarily on studies with empirical evidence and the review is narrative in nature. The study presents and discusses findings related to the founding of the firm, organizational features, environmental factors, and their influence on market strategy and firm performance.

The study finds great heterogeneity on the factors examined within this relatively narrow defined group of firms. This leads the study to conclude that normative linear models of international expansion render little explanatory and predictive value to the study of these firms.

The study concludes that recent empirical findings on INVs offer insight beyond traditional models of internationalization, and that more theory driven research in the area is required. The paper suggests application of general theories of organizations on the INV phenomenon in an attempt to understand international expansion and market strategies of new firms.

The study represents a comprehensive review of the literature on INVs and serves well as an introduction to the field for students, managers and scholars.

The study offers a much needed recapitulation of the empirical evidence in a relatively new field of research. It offers guidance for future research in a field of research that is still in its infancy.

Looks at how cultural barriers presented many problems in the initial forming of many organizations′ partnerships between Denmark and Turkey. Danish investments in the Turkish marketplace also suffered many casualties due to the same culture gap and Turkish family influences. Looks at the high inflation rates and political instability as contributors to unstable partnerships. There appears to be a real need for professional managers to build up strong relationships if business collaboration is to achieve mutual success.

This paper examines the characteristics of the so called Born Globals and compares them with other types of exporting companies. Born Globals are defined as firms that were established after 1976 and have reached a share of foreign sales of at least 25% after having started export activities within three years after their birth. A total of 272 Danish exporting, manufacturing companies are analyzed out of which 47 can be categorized as Born Globals according to these criteria. The contribution of the paper is empirical and descriptive; the literature has not yet shown a large scale study with similar comparisons. As shown below, Born Globals have a distinctive profile: they have a high share of foreign sales (almost 70%) and resemble the most internationally oriented exporters with respect to internal capabilities and competitive platform (specialized production) as well as their geographical scope. However, because of their small size and limited resources they often operate at arm's length in foreign markets, sometimes even more so than very inexperienced exporters.

Companies that internationalise at or near their founding, “born globals,” are emerging in great numbers world‐wide. Characterised by a specific Gestalt of marketing‐related competencies, they are playing an increasing role in international trade. Born globals are investigated using data from case and survey‐based studies in Denmark and the USA. First introduces and describes the born‐global phenomenon. Then, hypotheses are developed and tested via a structural model that represents key factors in the international success of this important breed of firm. Results suggest that born‐global international performance is enhanced in the wake of managerial emphasis on foreign customer focus and marketing competence. Product quality and differentiation strategy also play important roles, particularly in the US firms. These and additional findings are discussed in light of their theoretical and practical implications.