The role of entrepreneurial ecosystems in the internationalization process of born global companies

Recently, in the field of international business, several scholars started to be interested in the role played by ecosystems in the internationalization process of born global companies. These companies are characterized by an early and accelerated internationalization process wherein the entrepreneurs' background and the networks play an important role. Despite the importance of these elements, it is also true that this process is the result of the exploitation of several resources available within the firm or in the external environment in which it resides. Therefore, as the literature on ecosystems describes them as facilitators of innovation, characterized by the presence of dynamic and interacting systems and subsystems, the adoption of an ecosystem perspective seems to be relevant to have an overall vision of the internationalization process of born global firms. More in detail, to explore the support of ecosystems in the internationalization process of these companies, this thesis adopts the entrepreneurial ecosystem approach by focusing the attention on the systemic elements of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. To reach the empirical objectives, a qualitative methodology is adopted with the development of a case study strategy. The interviews and the card-based game method represent the main methods of data collection and they are addressed to the founders of nine Italian born global companies. The process of data examination is developed by using MAXQDA software for content analysis. The results show several differences in the internationalization processes of the Italian born global companies also underlining the importance of several factors affecting the speed of their internationalization.