eThesis - School of Business electronic theses

There is a lack of academic research on the financing strategies of born globals. The goal of this paper is to identify the best financial practices used by Finnish born globals that allow them to internationalize and operate successfully in fast moving industries. These are compared to those used by globalizing internationals in order to identify the similarities and differences in their financial strategies. A cross analysis is used to determine if it would be possible for conventional companies to also use the same financial strategies than born globals and globalizing internationals. Four companies are used as case studies.

The empirical part of the thesis is conducted through a qualitative survey, where key personnel from each company were sent a pre-questionnaire and a personal interview was arranged with each one separately. The analysis of the financial strategies of born globals reveals that the traditional Pecking Order Hypothesis (POH) of finance does not work with born global companies. Born globals opt to use equity financing instead of debt financing as suggested by POH. As a result of this the Adjusted Pecking Order Theory for Globalizing Companies is developed to explain the financing strategies of internationalizing companies with limited resources.

The analysis of the financing strategies of born globals also brings forward the possibility of businesses “turning” themselves into born global companies. The concept of a “born again global” company is discussed and it is developed further. The thesis introduces the concept of the born global brand as an extension to the existing born global and born again global concepts.