Research On Born Global Firms' International Performance Influence Mechanism Through Network Capability Perspective

With the deepening of the globalization,world's economy has greater tendency to become an organic inter-connected whole.Under that circumstance,enterprises face increasingly intensive international competition,enterprise's business scope has continued to develop internationally.Globalization and business network has become one of the most important features involved in each stage of the enterprises.In international business research domain,one category of firms embark on internationalization at the beginning of foundation or shortly after inception which has derived from mainstream internationalization process theories,those firms are named as “born global firms” in academic field.They are one of very important branches in international entrepreneurship research,which has attracted more scholars' attention.As a typical representative of entrepreneurship and innovation,born global firms' development is increasingly important for developed economies as well as emerging economies.Thus,more in-depth research on born global firms together with their international performance improvement influential factors are not only crucial for international new ventures' survival and development at micro-level but also extremely significant for Chinese enterprises “go-global” strategies implementation at macro-level.Some scholars have explored research theme of born global firms' international opportunity identification based on interdisciplinary combinations of international business and entrepreneurship,and taken business networks as the main research perspective and analytical framework.Extant research indicating that business network which is an important carrier of opportunity identification has played a prominent role in firms' accelerated internationalization,but the question about how born global firms plan,initiate,build,manage their own networks to reach international opportunity identification and exploitation which has great potential toimprove firms' international performance is still deficient in existing research results.Therefore,the fundamental research question of the dissertation is: “How would network capability influence born global firms' international performance?” the overall question can be divided into following sub-questions:(1)How would network capability influence born global firms international opportunity identification and opportunity exploitation?(2)What influential effects do international opportunity identification and exploitation have on born global firms' international performance?(3)What direct influential effects does network capability have on born global firms' international performance?In order to clarify that key research question,the dissertation has conducted an comprehensive literature review on themes of firms' internationalization;international entrepreneurship,born global firms,network capability,opportunity identification and exploitation,etc.Then,the dissertation constitutes born global firms' network capability framework through firm's network dynamic research perspective.On that basis,the dissertation put forward born global firms international performance improvement influence path conceptual model from network capability perspective.And theoretical analysis has been undertaken on how network capability influencing born global firms' international performance followed by various related hypothesises.According to theoretical model,large sample of born global firms' statistic data has been acquired from questionnaire survey,SEM method has been adopted to undertake empirical tests about proposed hypothesises.Through the above research,the following conclusions are drawn in this dissertation:(1)born global firms' network capability is divided into five dimensions by combining past research outcomes about firms' network capability and inner & external network perspectives,they are:network visioning capability,network building capability,network relationship management capability,network positioning capability,network internal communication capability.Born global firms' international opportunity is divided into international opportunity identification and international opportunity exploitation.(2)born global firms' network building capability,network relationship management capability and network internal communication capability each has significantly positive effects on international opportunity identification and exploitation;(3)International opportunity identification and exploitation each has significantly positive effects on born global firms' international performance;(4)Born global firms' network capability dimensions exert differential effects on international performance,network building capability,network relationship management capability and network internal communication capability each has direct significantly positive effects on international performance,while network visioning capability and network positioning capability's direct positive effects on international performance are not significant;(5)international opportunity identification and exploitation's mediating rolebetween born global firms' network capability and international performance is verified.Among them,international opportunity identification and exploitation have played partial mediating role between network building capability,relationship management capability and network internal communication capability;international opportunity identification and exploitation have played full mediating role between network visioning capability and international performance.According to above research conclusions,the dissertation reaches following managerial implications: The cultivation of network capability is definitely crucial to improve born global firms' international performance.Network capability can not only boost firms' international performance through mediating roles of international opportunity identification and exploitation,but also advance international performance directly to some extent.Therefore,the entrepreneur and management team of born global firms must pay close attention to cultivate and manage their network capabilities more effectively.First of all,firms should strengthen their subjective awareness of network connects at corporate strategic level,maintain the macro right direction of network capability,have a sound plan of network development.While at operational level,born global firms need to communicate and interact with external partners more actively,build network of larger size and heterogeneity intentionally.Meanwhile,born global firms should further and deepen their bilateral relationship with key partners,try to build a long-term,enduring and trusting bilateral relationship with their partners.Born global firms should also get closer to network positions of centrality or with more structural holes;intensify organization internal communication to realize better organizational cohesiveness and execution.At the same time,as typical examples of international entrepreneurship,born global firms need to focus more on obtaining overseas market knowledge from network to recognize international objectively existing opportunities on one hand,and develop innovative opportunities through knowledge assimilation,combination and refinery efforts on the other hand.For recognized opportunities,born global firms should leverage their networks to get access to various kinds of resources,and match them effectively with their organizationally internal resources to timely exploit international opportunities,which is a feasible way to improve firms' international performance.There are several innovation points in this dissertation:(1)Within past born global firms research,scholars home and abroad tend to explore accelerated internationalization phenomenon from relatively static network structure,content,characteristics and quality approach,while network capability encompass both static and dynamic perspectives,it focuses more on network building,managing capabilities as well as networks' structure,characteristics and quality.Thus,the network capability perspective adopted in the dissertation has extended and enriched born global and international entrepreneurship research from network theory.(2)Entrepreneurship's opportunity research perspective has been adopted in the dissertation's research about born globalfirms,which has filled international opportunity research deficiency in existing international entrepreneurship and born global research domain,by dividing international opportunity into identification and exploitation dimensions,the dissertation further strengthens international opportunity's explanation and empirical operation in born global firms' development.(3)The dissertation has formulated a mechanism model of born global firms network capability –international opportunity identification and exploitation – international performance,it regards international opportunity identification and exploitation as the mediating role between network capability and international performance,which has combined international business theory,network theory and international entrepreneurship theory as an intergrated theoretical len to pinpoint the internal influencing mechanism of born global firm's international performance improvement more comprehensively and specifically.Meanwhile,statistic test method of big empirical samples has filled the gap of empirical research deficiency in international entrepreneurship and born global research domain.(4)The dissertation has selected China's born global firms as empirical test examples,which has filled the gap in mainstream international entrepreneurship and born global research of focusing on enterprises from developed economies rather than emerging economies like China.Therefore,the dissertation has also enabled further examination and extension of cross-border applicability and transferability of international entrepreneurship and born global theories.