Sustained competitive advantage of born global ventures: a conceptual framework

Abstract

Born global internationalization has emerged as the most promising field of the international entrepreneurship literature in developed countries. Recently, it has gained attention of some researchers from emerging economies too, though still at its infancy stage. The purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework for development and sustained competitive advantage of born global SMEs in Malaysia to pursue recurring calls for appending born global research in emerging countries and integrating multi-disciplinary theories for appeasing the inconclusiveness and complexity of this global phenomenon. The key assumption guiding this effort is mandatory role of entrepreneur's, being heart and soul of the small firms, in determining speedy internationalization of born global SMEs. Extant review explicates direct and significant relationship of international entrepreneurial capabilities in creation as well as sustained competitiveness of born global firms, yet the role of entrepreneur's psychosomatic resources in is largely unknown. Arguing in the favor of determining role of positive psychological capital in new venture creation and competitiveness and depicting it as a missing link in born global literature, an integrated framework is established. Future research recommendations for empirical investigation of this conceptual framework are given. Limitations and practical implications are also discussed.