The objective of this study was to extend the currently very limited understanding of the ecosystem strategies of Born Globals. As a starting point for the study, several gaps in the existing literature were identified (see section 2.3.1, p. 36), which demonstrated the urge to examine the Born Global phenomenon more profoundly. In addition to the extensive literature bringing together relevant theories from the fields of Born Global, business ecosystem and strategy literature, the main contributions of this study include
In-depth empirical research on two Finnish game companies The thematic network that was created for analytical purposes The revised theoretical framework that was finally suggested
First and foremost, this study contributes to the international business literature by providing several new insights into the business strategy of Born Globals. Previously, the related literature has mainly focused on the internationalization phase of these firms and has often overlooked the considerations posed by their operational environment. In order to broaden the scope of research, this study identified the key components that form a basis for the formulation and implementation of the ecosystem strategy of Born Globals. Furthermore, this study specified the strategic tools these firms utilize for enhancing their ability to co-evolve with their respective business ecosystems. As these topics have been yet only little examined, the findings on the ecosystem strategies of the two case firms proved very fruitful in general. Specifically, they provide a reasonable extension to the research work on Finnish Born Globals that has been undertaken praiseworthily by scholars such as Luostarinen & Gabrielsson 2004, 2006 and Sasi et al. 2009.
Second, the uniqueness of this study arises from the rather unusual opportunity to investigate the strategy of Born Globals in the long term. Although the case interviews were conducted not until lately (i.e. during the actual research process), the author was able to collect material that covered the entire trajectory of the case firms. Similar kind of approach has been previously applied by scholars such as Sasi (2010) and Redwood & Ford (2012). However, the focus on the strategic implications resulting from the evolution of the business ecosystems makes this study highly unique. The value of the findings arises especially from their capability to extend the current knowledge of how the strategy of Born Globals evolves over time: while Eisenhardt & Sull (2001) considered simple strategic rules as particularly suitable for young companies (see section 2.2.3.2, p. 25), the results of this study backs up their suitability for Born Globals later on too.
Third, this study lends further support to the previous research findings concerning the importance of employees in the strategy of Born Globals. Specifically, this study indicates that a small Finland-based company conducting global business can access business areas outside their common reach through the personal network of the firm’s employees. Furthermore, this study found evidence that the entrepreneur may play a highly decisive role in the business of Born Globals. In other words, out of the typical features of Born Globals identified by various researchers (see section 2.1.1, p. 9);
Entrepreneurial mindset and/or experience of managers (F2) and the importance of networks and/or personal relations (F4) seem to play a particularly significant role in
the strategy of Born Globals. As a novel finding, the founders’ ability to hunch fleeting opportunities is proposed as a factor that may steer the ecosystem strategies of these firms. Overall, these results contribute to narrow the gap between the Born Global and strategy literature because they can be considered as the key dynamic capabilities of Born Globals (for the description of dynamic capabilities; see section 2.2.3.2, p. 25).
Fourth, the theories of Moore (1996) and Iansiti & Levien (2004a) form an insightful basis for studying the strategies of business ecosystem participants. Fundamentally, this study validated that the core components of niche player strategies (section 2.2.3.1, p.
22) are featured by Born Global firms. In addition, this study extends the current knowledge of the ecosystem strategy of a single small firm: in particular, the proposition according which the ecosystem strategy of Born Globals should not only follow the evolvement of their ecosystem environment but also the level of the firm’s own maturity elaborated the current theories further. In addition, the firm’s possibility to utilize their ecosystem interfaces as a supportive tool in their capability building provided a novel standpoint to the existing literature.
Fifth, the findings that did not support the prior theories also provide a valuable research contribution. Specifically, there was only little or no empirical evidence found for the strategy theories of time pacing or purposeful organizational misfit (section 2.2.3.2, p. 25) – even though one could expect them to be advantageous in creative industries such as gaming. Thus, this study extends the current understanding on these strategies by indicating that time pacing or misfit strategies may be too radical or demanding for small companies. Instead, the findings indicate that the creativity and innovativeness of these firms is mainly fostered internally by the employees. Furthermore, on the basis of the empirical findings, this study proposes the following important specification to be taken into account when examining the strategies of small global firms: proactiveness as a trait of business strategy (cf. Lewin et al. 1999; Coviello 2006; Autio et al. 2010; Yamakawa et al. 2011; Redwood & Ford 2012) should be distinguished from the firm’s internal proactiveness that is mainly driven by the employees.
Finally, in the literature review of this study it was found that researchers are not fully united on whether the product strategy of Born Globals should feature market-based adaptations or not. Thus, the following finding provides a valuable contribution to the current Born Global research: the case firms were found to seek for minimum market adaptation with regard to their regional (end-customer) markets. However, both firms strived to adapt their products to multiple platforms and thereby have many variations of their single products. Thus, the findings of this study indicate the ecosystem strategy of Born Globals to feature product modularity in terms of ecosystem platforms. The author hopes this contributes to clarify the on-going academic debate.