Internationalization of Life Science Startups : The Case of Swedish Life Science Businesses

Abstract: In the last decades, research on technology and applications for improvementsof people’s wellbeing has been increasingly important. There is an extensive amount of research on internationalization of firms, while research on life science businesses, especially startups, in a Swedish context is lacking. As seen from previous literature on the life science industry, firms are dependent on networks and long R&D processes funded by financial actors. Therefore, the aim of this research was to explore how Swedish life science businesses operate in their early phases in order to internationalize. The theoretical framework used in this research is based on the relevance of identified theories in creating a proper business model, choosing the right internationalization strategies and entry modes to the foreign markets, in addition to acquiring the relevant networks. This research used an exploratory research approach to utilize previous literature in combination with case studies to explore further on the internationalization phenomenon in the context of the studied cases. Furthermore, an abductive approach was utilized in the research from the correlations between existing theories and gathered findings, resulting in modifications in the methodology and in existing theories. The study conducted semi-structured interviews with five different Swedish companies in the life science industry. The interviewees were all in high leading positions in the studied companies. The authors of the research conducted a thematic analysis of the data to identify common patterns and themes to guide the analysis. Findings of the research showcase that Swedish life science firms are dependent on creating unique and efficient products and services, targeting markets with suitable industry, research and regulatory landscape, and acquiring access to business, regulatory and scientific networks in order to internationalize early on. This research looks at the industry of life science from a Swedish startup firm context, resulting in contributions towards the internationalization processes of firms.