A comparative research on the effects of organizational capabilities of the born global companies internationalisation process and the export performance

Born Global Companies (BGs, hereafter) is a concept used to describe how Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) are able to operate in international markets shortly after their establishment despite limited resources and lack of international experience, and has emerged in order to challenge traditional assumptions about the incremental process of internationalization. Rapid internationalization process of BGs' in early stages has generally been tried to be outlined by entrepreneurial, firm and environmental specific factors, and various theoretical approaches and evaluations have been carried out to support and deepen these factors. Drawing on the resource based approach and capabilities viewpoint, in this research it has been examined whether BGs' and Traditionally Internationalized Companies/Tradational Companies or Exporters (that is, a company internationalized in a more slow and gradual way, TCs, hereafter) show differences in terms of organizational capabilities (such as international entrepreneurship orientation, international market orientation, international marketing capability, international networking capability, technology capability, managerial/organisational capabilities, financial capability, information technology capability) that are thought to have an impact on the early and rapid internationalization of BGs, and the affect of the organizational capabilities on the probability of a company's being classified as a BG or as a TC, as well as their affects on their export performance at different levels (all SMEs, BGs, TCs). The study was carried out with a survey of 112 exporter SMEs (61 of them were TCs and 51 BGs) in the Aegean Exporters' Associations list. In this study in which the organizational capabilities are primarily defined as a whole and then classified into two as international business (international entrepreneurship orientation, international market orientation-customer orientation, competitive orientation, functional orientation, international marketing capability, international networking capability) and functional capabilities (technology capability, organizational/managerial capabilities, financial capability, information technology capability), various research models have been developed and many findings have been reached that will contribute to the literature. The t-test that was done, showed that BGs are different from TCs in terms of international entrepreneurship orientation, the sub dimensions of the international market orientation (customer orientation, competitor orientation, functional orientation), international marketing capability, international networking capability and technology capability. By logistic regression analysis; international entrepreneurship orientation, international networking capability and technology capability have been identified as the most important characteristics that distinguish BGs from TCs. The linear regression analysis, in which organizational capabilities are primarily considered as a whole and the effects on businesses' export performance are examined, demonstrates that the international entrepreneurship orientation, international networking capability and financial capabilities have a positive and significant impact on businesses' export performance, whereas technology capability has negative and significant impact. While BGs international marketing capability and financial capability have a positive and significant impact on export performance, a negative and significant relation has been determined in terms of the information technology capability. In the TCs, no organizational capability have been found to have a significant effect on export performance. Only in models where the effects of international business capabilities on the export performance of enterprises are considered; international entrepreneurship orientation, competitor orientation and international networking capability have been seen to have an impact on the export performance of the business, and none of these organizational capabilities has been able to explain the export performance of BGs, only competitor orientations have affected the export performance of TCs. In the models where only the functional capabilities are examined on the export performance of the enterprises, it is found that the financial capability is effective at all levels of the business being examined, additionally it is found that information technology capability have a negative impact on BGs, while TCs' organisational/managerial capabilities have an effect on export performances. The research has made significant contributions to the literature in integrating the different organizational capabilities discussed in the early and rapid internationalization literature, as well as providing a holistic and comparative perspective in terms of both international business and functional capabilities. This research, in the eyes of related institutions and organisations; is thought to demonstrate the capabilities of SMEs which they need to develop in order to provide early internationalisation and high export performance; to lead the way to guide the features of government support in this context, and to shed light on future work.