The entrepreneurial experience and strategic orientation of high-tech born global start-ups: An analysis of novice and habitual entrepreneurs

A new type of “born global” (BG) firm has attracted the attention of international business researchers, encouraging the development of international entrepreneurship theory as a separate field of research. This theory proposes that the development of BG start-ups depends on their entrepreneurs, such that their strategic orientation can explicate their accelerated foreign growth and performance abroad. However, empirical analyses of BG start-ups are rare, with a few studies that examine their different manifestations. This study therefore investigates the role of entrepreneurial experience in influencing the different manifestations of strategic orientation, through a comparison of eight Italian, Internet-based BG start-ups founded by either novice or habitual entrepreneurs. Following a case-based approach, the conceptual framework presents the strategic orientation of BG start-ups as a multidimensional construct, comprising learning, market, and entrepreneurial orientations. Some propositions suggest how the different levels of entrepreneurial experience among novice and habitual entrepreneurs may influence the strategic orientation of their BG start-ups and offer insights for researchers interested in strategic orientation and entrepreneurial experience.