The changing role of network ties and critical capabilities in an international new venture’s early development

• The importance of networks for firm internationalization has been pointed out for several decades. Especially for small and new firms, networks have been found to be an important tool to gain access to resources and to overcome liabilities of newness, smallness and foreignness. Yet, there is a lack of understanding regarding which types of capabilities are developed through networking and how and when networks are used for growth purposes overtime. The aim of this article is to explore how and when the individual key actors’ competence bases and networking activities create, develop and deploy critical capabilities during different phases of an international new venture’s early development. The article is based on a longitudinal, in-depth case study ofa Swedish international new venture from the medical-technology industry. We find that the development process is greatly affected by the key individual actors’ various competences, existing network ties and their leveraging of different indirect ties during the pre-founding, start-up and establishment of production phases. During the commercialization and sales growth phases, however, many new network ties are developed. The heterogeneity of the individual actors’ backgrounds plays an important role during the different developmental phases. We conclude by advancing a number of propositions inrelation to how critical capabilities are created, developed and deployed through networking during different developmental phases.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Företagsekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Business Administration (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Internationalization

Networks

Medical-technology sector

International new venture

Longitudinal study

Capabilities

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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