Brazilian craft breweries and internationalization in the born global perspective.
| Autor | Stocker, Fabricio |
| Cargo | Research paper |
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Introduction
The globalization phenomena and the technological advances occurring in the last decades have been changing the functioning and the pace of expansion of companies around the world (Cavusgil, Knight & Riesenberger, 2014). With the globalized market, the internationalization process happens more quickly, even for small and newly created companies (Efrat & Shoham, 2012; Fan & Phan, 2018; Stocker & Abib, 2019).
The recent technological innovation and the presence of a growing number of entrepreneurs with international business experience have facilitated learning and increased the network of relationships between multinational companies and internationalized small and medium enterprises (Ghannad & Andersson, 2012; Vaillant, Lafuente & Bayon, 2018). By this point, micro and small enterprises with limited resources begin to compete and succeed in the international arena (Bjorgum, Moen & Madsen, 2013; Jafari-Sadeghi, Nkongolo-Bakenda, Dana, Anderson & Biancone, 2020).
In the context of the beer industry, the sector studied in this research, Brazil figures as the 3rd largest beer producer in the world, with the domestic market concentrated in only a few corporations, which together are responsible for more than 90% of all beer production. Despite being a highly competitive environment and dominated by large companies, in recent years, small enterprises have emerged as potential players in the market, mainly through international collaborations and global brand positioning, the so-called craft breweries.
Despite the ongoing debate about the born global companies, little is known about these types of companies (Sui & Baum, 2014), and most of the studies on new international projects have been realized in developed countries--Knight & Cavusgil (2004), Oviatt & McDougall (2005) and Kubickova, Tuzova & Toulova (2016)--whose presence of born global companies are more evident. Hereupon, there is a lack of studies that are concerned about the peculiarities, advantages and disadvantages of companies from emerging markets (Bjorgum, Moen & Madsen, 2013; Cuervo-Cazurra, 2016; Etemad & Keen, 2018).
Considering the advances and latest research in the internationalization field, we can observe the expansion abroad of a new generation of companies originating in emerging countries (Etemad & Keen, 2018). These new corporate structures, such as the case of born global, have challenged the international business theories, which argue mainly about expansion with gradual or by economic motivations, and thus, new research and more robust studies continue to be necessary for the advancement in the area (Ratten, Dana, Han & Welpe, 2007; Cavusgil & Knight, 2015; Reuber, Knight, Liesch & Zhou, 2018).
Given the limited number of studies examining small born global, mainly from emerging countries, and also due to the lack of interlocution with the dominant theory of gradual internationalization, the objective of this paper is to analyze how the internationalization process of Brazilian microbreweries takes place, especially in factors of propensity to internationalization, competition and survival in the national and international market.
In addition to this first introductory section, the second section includes a review of internationalization and born-global theoretical background. In the third section, we present our methodological procedures, detailing the stages of data collection and analysis. The fourth and fifth sections are dedicated to the analysis and discussion of the achieved results. In the end, the final considerations of the work are presented, highlighting its contributions, limitations and propositions for future studies.
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Theoretical background
The internationalization of companies, influenced by the current global socioeconomic situation--caused by the development of emerging countries' economies and the participation of more countries in the international market--demands the expansion of the business and, with the internationalization process, benefits and advantages can be perceived by companies (Vaillant, Lafuente & Bayon, 2018). Thus, the expected benefits of the internationalization strategy include increasing the degree of learning and skills development, expanding and diversifying the portfolio, cash flow and market area as well as reducing risk by participating in the global market (Zucchella & Servais, 2012; Dal-sato, Alves, Bule & Amarante, 2015).
The adoption of internationalization strategies can be differentiated, with specific characteristics, however, they must be coherent with the organizational structure of the company and with the desired objectives in the international expansion (Reuber, Knight, Liesch & Zhou, 2018; Jafari-Sadeghi, Nkongolo-Bakenda, Dana, Anderson & Biancone, 2020). The main internationalization strategies for entry into foreign markets relate to exports, licensing, franchising--franchise, associations and strategic alliances, joint ventures and acquisition or installation of subsidiaries (Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson, 2012)
The internationalization of companies demanded by the need for business expansion and the adoption of competitive advantage strategies lead to consider the fact that little can be done on an individual basis, thus evidencing the need for interconnection with organizational networks (Krakawer, Jussani & Vasconcellos, 2013; Jin, Ramkumar & Chou, 2018). Such networks strategically and cooperatively respond to market uncertainties and position themselves in production and marketing in the international market (Zucchella & Servais, 2012).
Organizational networks, according to Johanson &Vahlne (2009), are a relevant element of understanding the internationalization process since with business relationships between companies, partners, buyers, suppliers and other stakeholders, there is an intensification of relationships and need for cooperation to work in an interconnected way (Ratten, Dana, Han & Welpe, 2007; Jin, Ramkumar & Chou, 2018).
The complementarity of the networks approach in the internationalization of companies is observed by the congruent benefits and advantages between the theoretical approaches, especially concerning the issues of risk reduction and uncertainties in the internationalization process through the influence and use of organizational networks (Zhao, Yang, Hughes & Li, 2020).
However, according to Cavusgil, Knight, Riesenberger, Rammal & Rose (2014), the perceived evolution in new international enterprises is clear evidence of the globalization phenomena and the persuasive impact of new technologies. This has generated a dissonance between the classical explanations about the internationalization process of traditional companies and of these new enterprises, opening space for novel discussions and theoretical perspectives about this phenomenon (Deng & Sinkovics, 2017).
2.1 The born global perspective review
The rise of a new field of study in the international business literature, caused by the emergence of born-global companies in the early 1990s, created a challenge to the internationalization process's dominant theories (Bell, McNaughton, Young & Crick, 2003). These new ventures have adopted a global vision since their conception or beginning of operations and have been dedicated to a rapid internationalization process (Rennie, 1993; Fan & Phan, 2018).
The focus is on the age of companies when they become international not on their size (Dib, Da Rocha & Da Silva, 2010). In contrast to organizations that gradually evolve from domestic to multinational enterprises, these new ventures begin with a proactive international strategy.
Oviatt & McDougall (2005) make a comparison of born-global companies with the internationalization theory by Johanson & Vahlne (2009) and consider differences relating the assumptions of the Uppsala model, whose internationalization process is gradual. For born global, for instance, although resources may be limited by the size and time of existence and little or no experience in any market, yet these new ventures are committed to the international market, assuming the risks of their early operation (Cesinger, Danko & Bouncken, 2012).
Although born global have been studied for more than a decade, theory and practice are still in the process of evolution (Gabrielsson & Gabrielsson, 2011; Buckley & Casson, 2021). There is no consensus and a clear definition about the concept of born global, which makes valid comparisons difficult (Dib, Da Rocha & Da Silva, 2010; Cesinger, Danko & Bouncken, 2012). For this reason, according to Gabrielsson, Kirpalani, Dimitratos, Solberg & Zucchella, 2008, even after a long time of publication of the seminal work of Oviatt & McDougall (1994), where born global was highlighted in the international entrepreneurship process, not enough is known about them.
Although there are different definitions of what the born-global company is, there is a certain agreement among international business researchers regarding their characteristics, whether concerning the short time they start their activities abroad, the involvement and commitment of their activities in the foreign market, the orientation to the international market or the factors that lead them to the accelerated process of internationalization (Bell, McNaughton, Young & Crick, 2003; Knight, Madsen & Servais, 2004; Deng & Sinkovics, 2017).
This study adopts the definition of born global presented by Gabrielsson, Kirpalani, Dimitratos, Solberg & Zucchella, 2008, who define a born global as a company with a global vision from the start, with potentially global products and services, and entrepreneurial capacity to accelerate the internationalization process. In an instrumental conception, Knight, Madsen & Servais (2004) also delimit that the born-global firms internationalize on average within three years of founding and generates at least 25% of total sales from abroad.
In addition to the adopted definition, for...
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