Born globals, international new ventures, and international entrepreneurship : Reflections and a research agenda

Abstract

In this editorial for the Special Issue of International Business Review, we examine research on born global firms (BGs), international new ventures (INVs), and international entrepreneurship (IE). This issue marks the 30th and 20th anniversaries, respectively, of the seminal works by Oviatt and McDougall (1994) and Knight and Cavusgil (2004). BGs and INVs represent enterprising firms that begin internationalizing at or near their founding. IE emphasizes proactive, innovative, and risk-seeking behaviours that identify and exploit international opportunities to achieve superior international performance. After examining research on BGs, INVs and IE since 1994, we explore how recent phenomena have altered the international business (IB) environment and the impact that these shifts have had on early internationalizing firms. We then introduce and summarize the articles in this special issue. We conclude by proposing potential themes and theoretical perspectives for future research in this distinctive area of IB.