Needs of Global Start-up companies (Deliverable 2) GlobalStart wp1 Studies Deliverable 2 Needs of Global Start-up Companies Table of contents p

1. 
   Definition of Global Start-ups 2
   
   1. 
      Introduction
      
   2. 
      The need for a definition of global start-ups
      
   3. 
      Definition
      
2. 
   Case studies of Global Start-ups 4
   
   1. 
      Global start-up interviews
      
      1. 
         Introduction
         
      2. 
         Objective of the case study interview
         
      3. 
         The Interview
         
   2. 
      Selection
      
   3. 
      Overview
      
3. 
   Identification of needs of Global Start-ups 6
   
   1. 
      Introduction
      
   2. 
      Research & Development
      
   3. 
      Market development / sales
      
   4. 
      Production / operation
      
   5. 
      Organisation and governance
      
   6. 
      Finance / administration
      
   7. 
      Conclusions
      

Annex 1: Papers

1. In search of a multidimensional identification method for born global firms. 13

2. 
   An Empirical Exploration of the Global Startup Concept in an Entrepreneurship Context. 31
   
3. 
   Assessing the needs of early stage high tech companies: An investigation among spin-off companies from 6 European Universities. 67
   
4. 
   Network Development of Global Startup Companies: A Pan-European Investigation81
   

Annex 2: Interview protocol 97

Paul Kirwan

Peter van der Sijde

Annemarie Ridder

1. 
   Introduction
   

High tech firms which are internationally active from or near their inception have increasingly been receiving international attention from academics, the media and politicians in recent times. These firms are widely recognised as drivers of national economies, in that they play an important role in creating employment and in the redistribution of wealth. National governments and private enterprises are investing vast sums in R&D trying to create new technologies in the new knowledge driven competitive landscape. With the significant investment across regional, national and European level it is important to have a fundamental understanding of how these new firms work what there needs are and how they can be better supported to achieve success. However, this has been made difficult by the plethora of terms and definitions which have been used in academia in examining the phenomenon of early internationalisation of start-up firms.

2. 
   The need for a definition of global start-ups
   

The phenomenon of early internationalization is a young field of study, in that it is not more than 20 years. However, with this time a wide variety of names have been used to describe these terms, e.g. Born Globals (e.g. Aspelund & Moen, 2001); International New Ventures (e.g. McDougall et al., 2003); New High Potential Ventures (e.g. Almeida & Bloodgood, 1996); Technology Based New Firms (e.g. Yli-Renko et al., 2002); Knowledge Intensive SMEs (e.g. Almor & Hashai, 2002) and Global Start-ups (e.g. Jolly et al., 1992). These terms have been operationalised in different ways by different authors and this has led to problems with respect to understanding, comparing and ultimately providing support for these firms.

3. 
   Definition
   

In the literature a commonly used definition is that “global start-up firms are those that from inception seek to recognise and exploit opportunities by combining resources from and selling outputs in multiple regions around the world”. Following an extensive search of the literature and using case studies of acknowledged and new global start-up firms, 12 propositions were put forward as to what constitutes a global start-up firm (see Annex 1.2). The outcome of this study was the following refinement of the definition:

“A Global Start-up is a new venture in which the start-up and internationalisation processes are intertwined. Global Start-up firms begin international activities even before the start of the actual exploitation process and they are driven by the global pursuit of opportunities and they are embedded in international networks and engage in a wide range of formal and informal value-added activities across national borders.”

4. 
   Context of the GlobalStart project
   

Global startup companies are startup companies and in the context of the present project we focus on high tech companies from a university (or university related) that are global startups. In the Venn diagramme above the relationships between the different concepts is indicated (not proportionally).

2. Case studies of Global Start-ups

In this chapter we present the procedures we followed to make a number of case studies in order to explore the needs of global start-ups. In the next chapter the needs are elaborated.

1. 
   Global start-up interview protocol
   

1. 
   Introduction
   

2. 
   Objective of the Case Study Interview
   

3. 
   The Interview
   

• 
  The Company: Profile and background of the spin-off and Major milestones
  
• 
  The University: Analysis of the TTO function in the Internationisation process
  
• 
  The Region: Regional infrastructure and internationalisation
  

Business concept; Technology / product / market; Finance; People; Networking

Based on the interview, the interviewer wrote a case study report which was sent to Twente for case clearing purposes and following this to the interviewee for validation. All the information received during the interview remains confidential, i.e. for use within the consortium only, all results, unless consent to publicise has been sought, will be reported in aggregate. The interview protocol is in Annex 2.

2. 
   Case Study Selection
   

Our sample of global start-up firms consists of university based spin-off companies. These firms because of their high tech focus have a high probability of being engaged in international markets. Through the technology transfer offices of the consortium partners, spin-offs were identified which matched the profile of our definition of global start-ups. The targeted spin-offs are active in different industries and are at various stages of growth.

3. 
   Overview
   

The following table provides an overview of the collected cases. To see the collected case data on the individual cases see Annex 3.