Nations seek greater diffusion of entrepreneurial culture among students, yet discussions about the appropriate educational approaches continue to be marked by divergent opinions. To provide a better understanding of entrepreneurial intention formation among students, research is critical. This article, in keeping with this goal, investigates the entrepreneurial capacities and attitudes of students toward entrepreneurship, by identifying subgroups within a student population that is often regarded as homogeneous. Although literature on entrepreneurial intentions is abundant, more recent research calls for more empirical investigations that can outline the differences in entrepreneurial intentions among subgroups of student populations.

This article integrates research on the internationalisation processes of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and export assistance services to investigate how such firms use support services drawing upon a large, qualitative study of 32 French traditional SMEs and international new ventures (INVs) that have entered Asia. Our key contribution is to consider the time to internationalisation (gradual or rapid) and the stage of internationalisation (entrance or intensification) rather than export intensity alone, and to examine how support services can help SMEs internationalise. The identification of different configurations of uses leads to the development of theoretical propositions that extend existing models pertaining to support services and firm internationalisation. These findings have several important managerial implications for support services to target their offer more precisely to two types of SMEs; they also provide useful guidance for SMEs to determine which tailor-made offerings from private and public actors are most applicable to their internationalisation efforts.

L’étude des entreprises nouvellement internationales (ENI) occupe une place de plus en plus importante dans la littérature en entrepreneuriat. Contrairement aux entreprises traditionnelles, ces ENI, dénommées aussi « born globals » (McKinsey & Co., 1993) ou encore « international new ventures » (Oviatt et McDougall, 1994) se définissent comme des entreprises qui, dès leur création ou peu de temps après, cherchent à dériver un avantage concurrentiel de l’utilisation de ressources et de la vente de produits dans de multiples pays. Notre recherche vise à comprendre comment le réseau et les caractéristiques de l’entrepreneur interviennent dans l’internationalisation de jeunes entreprises. Nous avons étudié six cas d’entreprises qui se sont internationalisées dès la création ou peu de temps après. Les caractéristiques de l’entrepreneur, ses compétences, son expérience ainsi que son réseau personnel sont importants pour la création de son entreprise à l’international et pour nouer les premiers contacts sur les marchés étrangers. La personnalité et le réseau de l’entrepreneur agissent en interaction ; ils orientent tour à tour la création de l’entreprise et ses premiers pas sur les marchés étrangers.The study of International New Ventures (INVs) is becoming increasingly important in the entrepreneurship literature. Unlike traditional SMEs, INVs, also referred to as “ born globals ” (McKinsey & Co., 1993) are defined as firms that from their inception or shortly after seek to derive a significant competitive advantage from resources use and sale of products in multiple countries (Oviatt and McDougall, 1994). Our research aims to understand how the entrepreneur’s network and characteristics influence the internationalization of young firms. We studied six firms that internationalized at inception or shortly after and found that the entrepreneur’s characteristics, skills, experience and personal network are important for creating an international venture and establishing initial contacts in foreign markets. Hence, the entrepreneurs’ personality and network interact and guide the venture’s internationalization process.El estudio de las Empresas Nuevamente Internacionales (ENI) está cobrando una importancia cada vez mayor en la literatura empresarial. A diferencia de las empresas tradicionales, estas ENI, también conocidas como « born globals » (McKinsey & Co., 1993) o « international new ventures » (Oviatt y McDougall, 1994) se definen como empresas que, desde su inicio o poco después, tratan de obtener ventajas competitivas por el uso de recursos y venta de productos en varios países. Nuestra investigación tiene como objetivo entender cómo la red y las características del empresario intervienen en la internacionalización de las empresas jóvenes. Se estudiaron seis casos de empresas que se internacionalizaron al crearse o poco después. Las características del empresario, sus habilidades, experiencia y red de contactos personales son importantes para la creación de un negocio en el extranjero y establecer contactos iniciales...

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Young and rapidly internationalizing firms, known as ‘international new ventures’ (INVs) or ‘born globals’ (BGs) have developed their ability to grow rapidly in international markets primarily because the entrepreneur and his or her team have established an international network. Based on six case studies of young technological firms located in the Rhône–Alpes region of France and using a qualitative method, this study focuses on the founders' capabilities in creating and developing an international business network. The results show that entrepreneurs build on their previous professional experience to mobilize international networks during the start-up phase in order to drive the firm's activities.