Network resource combinations in the international venturing of small biotech firms

Integrating the resource-based view (RBV) with a network perspective on resources, this article contributes to the growing body of knowledge regarding the internationalization of smaller biotech firms. In particular, it looks at how these firms commercialize innovations by combining resources in their networks in order to enter new foreign markets with existing products and to enter existing foreign markets with new products. Six cases indicate that network resource combinations vary with the nature of the venture; whereas new international product ventures (NIPVs) exploit a broad set of network resources in concordance with the multifaceted challenges intrinsic to these endeavours (i.e., both redefining the product and redefining the market), new international market ventures (NIMVs) depend on a more narrow scope of network resources, deployed with the primary aim to expand and deepen the customer base in foreign markets. The article concludes by proposing a model of the components of network resource combination capability.