Development and expansion of born global firms in Serbia

Abstract

Early internationalization has been widely recognized as an important research topic since 1990s when the term "born global firms" was for the first time introduced. Although there is significant research interest for early internationalization in developed and developing countries, in Serbia and Western Balkan this topic has not received considerable attention from the scientific community. At the same time, early internationalization of small and medium-sized firms is present and can not be neglected in the region and Serbia. This paper aims to identify the main prerequisites for the development of born global firms, and to identify and analyze small and medium-sized firms from Serbia with international business orientation from their founding. The analysis will be conducted based on literature review and available secondary data on small and medium-sized firms and their export. In this way, the early-internationalized small and medium-sized firms from Serbia will be mapped. As there are no available databases, this research will provide first insight into the extent of early internationalization and emergence of born global firms, and their characteristics, regarding industry, location, number of employees, business experience, and export expansion. The results would be discussed in regard to the studies conducted in developed countries. Some policy implications in the area of export promotion will be recognized.

Keywords

• early internationalization
• born global firms
• export
• small and medium-sized firms