The Role of Clusters in Internationalization of International New Ventures
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School of Business |
Master's thesis
Authors
Date
2018
Department
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Management and International Business (MIB)
Language
en
Pages
64
Series
Abstract
This thesis studies the role of clusters in internationalization of international new ventures (INV). I study INVs and their involvement in a cluster in order to find out how industrial clustering could enhance international new ventures’ ability to gain resources for internationalization via their network. This thesis contributes to the literature on INVs and the network perspective of internationalization by bringing in the cluster concept, which is relatively underutilized in the international entrepreneurship research. The objective of the research is to find out how belonging to a cluster affects the internationalization of new ventures, and how they could gain resources for internationalization with the help of the cluster network. Therefore, the conceptual framework of the study is centred around the concept of international new ventures and relies on the network theory of internationalization and the concept of clusters. The research approach used in the thesis is a case study. The main case is the energy cluster of Vaasa, and there are four embedded case studies, each of an INV that belongs to the cluster. The study is qualitative and is carried out via interviews of the personnel of the companies. Secondary data is retrieved from websites and articles. The findings of the study indicate that a cluster can facilitate internationalization especially if the founders of the new venture do not have large pre-existent networks. In this case the cluster offers plenty of opportunities to network and gain resources that would be difficult to acquire in a more isolated location. If the founders already have networks abroad or if the company operates in a very niche sector the cluster has no significant direct influence on the internationalization. However, for example the product development opportunities with universities and the techno-logical knowledge in the area can still help the companies to develop internationally competitive products. This can help the new companies succeed in foreign markets.Description
Thesis advisor
Saittakari, IirisKautto, Daria
Keywords
cluster, international new venture, network, internationalization