Opening the black box: a comparative case study on international prospectors

Abstract

Previous research on international new ventures focused on early outward-driven internationalisation. In contrast, the present study focuses upon international prospectors: international new ventures -founded in Germany or Switzerland -which are international from day one, source from Southeast Asia, and sell on the domestic market. Applying a comparative case-study design, our results indicate that -compared to outward-driven early internationalisers, international prospectors are rather low-tech. Similar to outward-driven international new ventures, founders of international prospectors are internationally experienced and cross-culturally educated. Moreover, intimate knowledge of the sourcing country has made them discover and transfer the business opportunity to the domestic market. In addition, we found that sourcing is not a dead end. Rather, international prospectors rapidly engage in exporting as well -making them in turn thoroughly international firms.