The nature of service characteristics and their impact on internationalization: A multiple case study of born global firms

The born global literature often assumes a uniform pattern of internationalization across manufacturing and service-based firms. However, this view pays little attention to the nature of service characteristics and how they shape the international expansion of born global firms. This paper thus explores the internationalization of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ service-based born global firms. Our multiple case study analysis (on three ‘hard’ and five ‘soft’ service firms) of born global firms differentiates between the internationalization pathways of these firms. We show that ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ service-based born global firms have different internationalization drivers, target different foreign markets, and have distinct entry modes in these markets. Our findings reveal that, soft service-based born global firms are particularly unique, initially entering markets by low-commitment entry modes before rapidly progressing to a high-control mode of entry.