Born globals: A cross-country survey on high-tech start-ups

• We test the determinants of early internationalization and degree of born-globalness.
• We run a cross-country survey on high-tech start-ups in the ICT sector.
• Scalability of products and small domestic markets affect early internationalization.
• Niche strategy and network relationships are key drivers.
• The degree of born-globalness is affected by the entrepreneur's experience.

The paper empirically investigates what drivers affect the decisions of high-tech start-ups to internationalize from the outset, and their degree of born-globalness. The empirical data have been obtained from a cross-country survey on internationalized high-tech start-ups operating in the ICT and electronics sectors. The present findings show that the presence of a small domestic market and the scalability of the product put on sale have a positive effect on the probability of a start-up internationalizing from its inception. We have also observed that the niche strategy and the network relationships built up by the entrepreneur are key drivers for both an early internationalization and the scope of international expansion. The experiential knowledge and international commitment of an entrepreneur, as well as the diversity of team competences and organizational flexibility of a firm, have a significant impact on a born global's degree of born-globalness, although it is not a fundamental precondition for early internationalization.