eThesis - School of Business electronic theses

Object of the Study: This thesis is part of joint research project by Aalto University School of Economics, University of Vaasa and several partner firms named “Born Global Growth Stages and Survival”. This thesis examines the evolution of the business networks of Swedish Born Global (BGs). As noted by relevant literature, most of the literature regarding business networks is focused on the firm and not in the changes in the network itself; therefore, this work aims to fill this gap by building on the former study of Finnish BGs by Sepulveda & Gabrielsson (2011), reevaluating their findings and comparing them with BGs in the Swedish context.

Methodology: This thesis is based in a qualitative multiple-case study involving five firms located in Sweden. The companies were selected from different industries and all of them fulfill the definition for BGs according to relevant literature. The analysis was done according to the guidelines for cross-pattern analysis and the findings were compared with previous literature.

Findings: This study supports previous findings on network evolution of Finnish BGs such as changes in the network content (switching from basic to strategic resources), in the structure (switching from strong ties to a mix of strong and weak ties) and an improvement in the centrality of BGs along different growth stages. However, Swedish BGs differ in the management of their network; even though their approach can be described as “calculative” too, they seem to make more extensive networking efforts. This is reflected in the inclusion of more “distant” contacts in their networks such as end users, companies in other industries or even competitors. Similarly, Swedish BGs relied strongly in private-found networks and business incubators belonging to Universities. Additionally, specific examples of how external events to the firm (M&A’s in pharmaceutical industry) reduce the degree of influence of the firm to manage its network leading to a passive approach. Finally, this thesis supports the finding that business networks can impact positively but also negatively the performance of the firm.