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Born-International SMEs: BI-Level Impacts of Resources and Intentions

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Abstract

The Katz and Gartner (1988) model describes four central properties of emerging organizations: resources, intention, exchange, and boundary. While designed as a general model for organizations, the approach has the potential to explain the early lives of "born-international" firms. In this study, boundary is used to define the central sampling frame. Two other properties, resources and intention, are evaluated in terms of their impact on the fourth property: exchange, measured as a firm's export growth and intensity. Given the inherent presence of two levels of analysis in emerging organizations, intention and resources are evaluated at both the individual and the organizational level. A sample (N = 47) of young "born-international" firms in the Indian software industry was studied, using a questionnaire. Results of the analysis are mixed for resources at both the individual and firm level variables. Intention is significant at the individual level but not the firm level. Contrary to other studies, these findings suggest that during the early stages of firm development, owner, not firm, characteristics play a pivotal role in performance, especially exports. The speculation is that this occurs because, in early stages, firms are relatively disorganized relative to the owner.

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  1. John Cook School of Business, Saint Louis University, 307 Davis Shaughnessy Hall, Saint Louis, MO, 63108, U.S.A.

    Sumit K. Kundu & Jerome A. Katz

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  1. Sumit K. Kundu
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  2. Jerome A. Katz
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Kundu, S.K., Katz, J.A. Born-International SMEs: BI-Level Impacts of Resources and Intentions. Small Business Economics 20, 25–47 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020292320170

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