Resumo

The new global environment is controlled by a rapid pace of technological changes and aggressive global competition. In line with this, when we talk about the process of internationalization and innovation, is necessary to mention the role of the new type of firms in the market which follow a different internationalization pathway, they are represented by the concept of Born Globals. We adopt the definition, according to which BGs can be seen as early adopters of internationalization.

The BG phenomenon has been studied and well documented, studies have found numerous factors which influence the internationalization of BGs. However, there is a lack of studies about these type of companies in emerging markets. BGs from emerging markets differ from the ones from developed ones. BGs have a preference for developed markets, where technology and strong institutions are present. BGs from emerging economies face many challenges, but the main is the issue of legitimacy.

We begin our view of internationalization and innovation from the role of the entrepreneurship, which is associated with novelty, the promotion of change, and expansion into new markets. Internationalization permits the firm to exploit new opportunities outside its domestic market. BGs display specific pattern of knowledge and capabilities, such as entrepreneurial and managerial knowledge, the ones from emerging markets are attracted to developed markets because of the exploitation of resources.

We adopt a qualitative approach, based on a case study of a Born Global company from Brazil, located in the United States of America. It is a technology service company with its main businesses sites development and personalized system development for medical area and laboratory. We used an in-depth interview of two hours and other information analysis, one interview was conducted via Hangouts on air with the company´s founder in Fort Lauderdale and the administrative coordinator in São Paulo.

The comapny´s sales revenue in 2013 in Brazil was 245% and 2 years after in the USA it achieved 426% attesting the sales growth. Its credibility increased towards other companies, it has bigger clients in the USA, also it enlarged the knowledge and the quality of resources, also it conquered many competitive advantages. It innovated with remote work, automating services, human resource and recruitment, likewise the budget processes, the quality and process of the services also improved.

The main findings showed that the internationalization of a BG from an emerging market to a developed one benefits the company in different manners such: economic growth, exploition of resources, quality of resources and addition of value to its services; the access to knowledge, quality of services, the firm showed more credibility towards other countries because of the advanced resources it achieved, also the company obtained stability and reliability, and it is able to make future plans.

Bangara, A., Freeman, S., & Schroder, W. (2012). Legitimacy and accelerated internationalization: An Indian perspective. Journal of World Business, 47(4), 623-634. Cavusgil, S. T., & Knight, G. (2009). Born global firms: A new international enterprise. Business expert press. Knight, G. A., & Cavusgil, S. T. (1996). The born global firm: A challenge to traditional internationalization theory. In S. T. Cavusgil & T. Madsen (Eds.), Advances in International Marketing. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.