Born Global Firms in The Furniture Industry - A Multiple Case Study of Scandinavian Furniture brands within the Premium Segment

Abstract: Several drivers have contributed to a world that is now more globalized in terms of trade where firms increasingly early in their life cycle, are either incentivized, or forced to engage in foreign markets. Communication, and technological advancements are two aspects that have benefitted the ability of smaller firms to compete with large firms on international markets. Furthermore has the settings for firms within industries that are generally considered traditional now changed, resulting in that they are now increasingly early able to compete on a global scale. The intention of this study is to examine one such industry, namely, the furniture industry, to see how certain firms contradict, not only the traditional expansion patterns suggested by the industry, but also the incremental stepwise procedure proposed by traditional expansion theoretical models. The question forming the outline of this study subsequently asks how firms in this category expand globally in relation to the conditions that have now been substantially changed. In order to fulfill the intention of the study, an abductive theory-building approach has been utilized in order to perform a multiple case study with five firms applicable to the description above. In order to capture a wide perspective of the process, three subcategorical focus points where specifically chosen (the role of prior knowledge, external networks and country of origin effects (COEs) to understand how certain aspects of internationalization impacts the process. Additionally, the main question refers to the choice of entry mode of which a firm with limited resourced is likely to chose. The collection and analysis of empirical data disclosed certain denominating factors that were used in order to comprise propositions in response to each of the questions asked in in the study. The propositions, presented in the discussion section were composed through discussion analysis and in comparison to relevant literature presented in the literature review. 3 The theoretical contribution of the study essentially emphasize the importance of prior experience, external networks, and COEs among BGs in the premium furniture segment, although sometimes indirect, rather than directly.