AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF THE KEY DRIVERS OF EARLY AND FAST INTERNATIONALISATION AMONG ITALIAN SMES: FOCUS ON THE ENTREPRENEUR AND THE BUSINESS MODEL

Since the early nineties, the accelerated internationalisation of SMEs has increasingly raised researchers interest and curiosity. Born global firms are companies internationalising near inception, challenging therefore the traditional Uppsala model (Johanson & Vahlne, 1977). Some key drivers such as the the rise of technology, networks, unique resources, the use of Internet and manager experience are among the most frequently factors cited in the International Entrepreneurship literature. However, Hennart (2014) questioned the past contributions and proposed an ambitious theory of early internationalisation. He supports that business model-specific factors are at the center of this phenomenon. As this dimension has so far received limited attention from scholars, the purpose of this study is through literature review and a quantitative research to analyse the factors related to the BM as well as the founder´s prior experience. This research is applied to a sample of Italian BG firms being compared to a sample of gradual exporters. The quantitative analysis identified the following statistically significant drivers: low marketing-mix changes, the use of word-of-mouth, a small national customer base and the founder´s work experience in a similar sector.