Internal orientation in the growth of born-globals. Learning from inside

Abstract

Current literature has researched the main drivers of BGs during their life cycle, suggesting that organisational variables of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and market orientation (MO) become fundamental for the long-term sustainability of BGs after a certain ‘turning point’. But those variables remain, in the literature, intimately tied to the figure of the entrepreneur, forgetting the key role played by the rest of the staff, and to the interaction of the BG with external forces. Based on a longitudinal case study in a young BG by means of action-research, that allows the participation of all employees in the co-creation of internal knowledge, we identify organisational dysfunctions during the early phase that affect the development of entrepreneurial and market orientation. Using the Socio-Economic Approach to Management (Savall, 1974), we propose that the entrepreneurs need to adopt an Internal Orientation (aiming at developing a cohesive organisation), and that the ‘right time’ for doing so is not after a few years, as the literature suggests, but much earlier. Finally, we introduce in BG studies the instrumental role of management consultancy in the sustainability of the international venture.