The role of human capital and strategic intent in internationalisation scope of new technology-based firms

This paper explores the internationalization scope of new technology based firms (NTBFs) during their early years of operation. Internationalization is considered as a growth strategy in its own right whose successful implementation requires relevant resources and capabilities. We focus on the role of human capital in the form of the international experience of the firm founders, and its interaction with the strategic intent to internationalize from the outset. Our analysis of a sample of 466 cases of UK and German NTBFs shows that human capital is a key success factor for international growth strategies. This human capital is an asset strongly facilitating the penetration of foreign markets, but it also appears that it is much more influential when backed up by a deliberate strategic intent to internationalize from the inception of the new venture. Similar conclusions can be drawn for the scale of entrepreneurial resources dedicated to the start-up: the higher they are, the higher the scope of internationalization, and scale is also leveraged by strategic intent.