The born global firm – a challenge for theory and policy

The Born Global Firms can be defined as a company which, from or near its founding seeks to derive a substantial proportion of its revenue from the sale of its products in international markets. The internationalization process in these firms cannot be explained by extant firm internationalisation theories. Therefore new theory is emerging integrating findings from entreprenurship, international business and strategic management to better explain the phenomenon of born globals.

From a policy perspective, Swedish studies have shown that born global firms deliver higher job growth than other firm catagories and consequently are contributing to the Swedish economy and labour markets.

The talk addresses these issues and also looks at examples of Born Globals in different sectors and highlights some key implications for national entreprise policies.

Svante Andersson is professor in Business Administration at Halmstad University. His areas of research include marketing, entrepreneurship and international business He has published in journals such as Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of International Marketing, International Marketing Review and Journal of International Entreprneurship. He has extensive international experience as export manager and as guest teacher/researcher.