Born Global and Gradual Internationalization

In traditional models, firm internationalization is seen as a gradual process of capability build-up by which firms slowly accumulate the resources necessary to face foreign market uncertainty (Eriksson, Johanson, Majkgard, & Sharma, 1997). These models assume that firms grow in their domestic markets before they start to export extensively. This is supposedly so because there is a learning process involved in facing unknown markets, and such a process requires knowledge and resources to face and overcome uncertain outcomes and costly investments. Knowledge and resources are progressively acquired through experience, first in known domestic markets and then in larger foreign markets (for a review see Leonidou & Katsikeas, 1996). Much literature has documented this liability of foreignness, or the cost faced by firms that operate abroad, and the need for companies to create capabilities in foreign markets (Mezias, 2002; Zaheer, 1995; Zaheer & Mosakowski, 1997).
Conventional models of internationalization have drawn criticism (Andersen, 1993; McDougall, Shane, & Oviatt, 1994; Turnbull, 1987). There is empirical evidence that shows the existence of small, young firms, endowed with very limited resources, which begin to export immediately after their foundation. For instance, Moen and Servais (2002) reported, for a sample of Norwegian, French, and Danish firms, the existence of many companies exporting a large share of their total sales shortly after their establishment. Such empirical evidence suggests that the Uppsala model is not the only possible way to describe the firm internationalization processes. Turnbull (1987) criticizes the determinism inherent in stage-based models, and argues against the notion that all firms, regardless of industry type, country context, or other variables, must inevitably follow a fixed route to become international. Other authors (Chadee & Mattsson, 1998; Erramilli & Rao, 1993; O'Farrell, Wood, & Zheng, 1998) contend that the