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2009; Gabrielsson et al., 2008; McKinsey & Co 1993; Oviatt & McDougall, 1994). Such firms are given a variety of terms by researchers. A summary of these terms is provided in Table 2.1.

Table 2.1 - Various Terminologies of BGF

Term Authors

Innate Exporters Granitsky, 1989

Instant Internationals McAuley,1999; Preece et al., 1999 Infant Multinationals Lindqvist, 1991

High-technology Start-ups Jolly et al., 1992 International New Ventures:

i. Export/Import Start-up ii. Multinational Trader iii. Geographically-focused

Start-up iv. Global Start-up

McDougall et al., 1994, 2003; Oviatt & McDougall, 1994, 1997; Zahra, 2005

Born Global Firms Aspelund & Moen, 2001; Cavusgil & Knight, 2015; Gabrielsson & Kirpalani, 2004; Knight & Cavusgil, 1996; 2005; Madsen & Servais, 1997; Sharma & Blomstermo, 2003; Rennie, 1993; Rialp et al., 2005

Early Internationalising Firms Federico et al., 2011; Rialp et al., 2005 Source: Compiled from the extant literature

According to Cavusgil & Knight (2015; p4), ‘‘born global firms exemplify early and rapid internationalisation’’. Regardless of various terminologies which are applied, one aspect is common about these firms is that they coordinate a number of organisational activities across various international markets (Oviatt & McDougall, 1995). As noted earlier, this study adopts the widely used

terminology ‘born global firms’ since it represents three inherent characteristics i.e. internationalisation from birth, significant export earning and broader geographic foot-print at or near inception.

The BGF concept was first highlighted in a survey conducted by McKinsey consultants for the Australian Manufacturing Council (Rennie, 1993). The survey identified two types of exporters. The first type is well established in their home market with strong resources and skills. Their primary focus is the home market and long-term goal is international market penetration in a gradual manner. These types were labelled as ‘domestic based firms’ by Rennie (1993). However, the second group of Australian manufacturers that began to export their high value-added products within two years of their formation were labelled as ‘born globals’. This type gives little or no attention to their home market and views the world as its market place from the outset. As noted earlier, BGF are defined as ‘‘entrepreneurial start-ups that, from or near their founding, seek to derive a substantial proportion of their revenue from the sale of products in international markets’’ (Cavusgil & Knight, 2015, p4). Similar to this definition, Oviatt & McDougall (1994, p49) defined INV as a ‘‘business organisation that from inception, seeks to derive significant competitive advantage from the use of resources and the sale of outputs in multiple countries’’. Even though these definitions are distinctive in some ways (Cavusgil & Knight, 2015) they represent a number of similar features to those of BGF. Similarities can be found in the above definitions as they relate to the speed (internationalisation from or near founding/inception), degree (generation of significant export earnings) and scope (serving multiple international markets) of internationalisation. Both definitions indicate partial overlapping and differentiating incrementally internationalised firms from BGF (Efrat, 2008).

BGF have been explained by a number of researchers based on speed of international market penetration, amount of revenue generation from international activities (degree) and number of

dimension degree is conceptualised as the share of foreign sales in total sales. The scope dimension is defined as the number of countries from which a firm generates its export earnings. Although these dimensions have received extensive scholarly attention, there is little consensus in the extant literature around the timing of initial international market involvement after the foundation of a BGF. For example, a number of authors suggest that this timing should be within two years from start-up (e.g. Moen, 2002, Moen & Servais, 2002), whereas others suggest within the first ten years from inception (e.g. Gassmann & Keupp, 2007; Pla-Barber & Escriba-Esteve, 2006). Similarly, the percentage of revenue generation from international activities represents another area of disagreement. For example, at least 5% (McDougall, 1989); more than 25% (Knight & Cavusgil, 2004; Moen & Servais, 2002; Mort & Weerawardena, 2006); more than 50% for firms from small open economies (Gabrielsson, 2005; Gabrielsson et al., 2004); more than 75% (Chetty & Campbell-Hunt, 2004). Likewise, the number of international markets served by these firms and their locations have also been treated differently by researchers. For example, one or a few international markets (Sharma & Blomstermo, 2003), and/or markets in the same or various regions of the world (Chetty & Campbell-Hunt, 2004; Gabrielsson, 2005; Gabrielsson et al., 2004). A summary of widely used conceptualisations and measures of BGF is provided in Table 2.2.

Table 2.2 - Various Conceptualisations and Measures of BGF

Publication Speed Degree Scope

Rennie, 1993 Two years from start-up 75% of export sales at the age of 14 years.

Not specified

Oviatt & McDougall, 1994

At or near inception Not specified Multiple

Knight & Cavusgil, 1996 Three years from start-up (firms not older than 20 years)

25% Not specified

Andersson & Wictor, 2003

Three years from start-up 25% or more Not specified

McAuley, 1999 First year of start-up Not specified Not specified Zahra et al., 2000 Six years from start-up 5% Not specified Moen, 2002 Three years from start-up At least 25% Not specified McDougall et al., 2003 Six years from start-up Not specified Not specified Chetty & Campbell-

Hunt, 2004

Two years from start-up 80% Worldwide

Knight & Cavusgil, 2004 Three years from start-up At least 25% export ratio

Not specified

Crick & Spence, 2005 Five years from start-up At least 25% Not specified Luostarinen &

Gabrielsson, 2006

Not specified (firms that established post 1985)

Over 50% Countries outside of the home continent Mort & Weerawardena,

2006

Pla-Barber & Escriba- Esteve, 2006

Ten years from start-up Export income from 41% - 61% or export to 11 – 25 countries

Export to 11 – 25 countries

Servais et al., 2007 Three years from start-up Over 25% or serving outside of the home continent

Markets outside of the home continent

Gassmann & Keupp, 2007

Ten years from start-up Not Specified At least one

international market Harris & Li, 2007b Five years from start-up Not Specified Not Specified Loane et al., 2007 Six years from start-up 25% Not specified Zhou et al., 2007 Three years from start-up 25% Multiple Sanchez & Rodriguez,

2008

Seven years from start-up 25% Not specified

Crick, 2009 Three years from start-up At least 10% of turnover in each of the three triad markets

North America, Western Europe and South-East Asia including Japan Sundqvist et al ., 2010 Three years from start-up At least 25% from

three continents

Three continents

Mascherpa, 2011 Six years from start-up 25% Not specified Gerschewski et al., 2015 Three years from start-up At least 25% Not specified Source: Compiled from Eurofound, 2012; Gerschewski, 2011; Gabrielsson & Kirpalani, 2012.

Despite the various conceptualisations that are used (Dominguinhos & Simões, 2004), researchers argued that there remains reasonable consistency among scholars in their appreciation of the characteristics of firms that internationalise at or near inception (e.g. Dib et al., 2010). Consistent with

the extant literature, this study conceptualises BGF based on speed, degree and scope dimensions. In particular, firms irrespective of their size (Oviatt & McDougall, 1994) that export to multiple international markets (e.g. Autio et al., 2000; Zhou et al., 2007) within the first five years from start- ups (e.g. Acedo & Jones, 2007; Crick & Spence, 2005; Harris & Li, 2007b) and derive at least an average of 20% of sales revenue from exporting (Fan & Phan, 2007; Zhou, 2007) within the specified timeframe are conceptualised as BGF in this study.