The Roles of INVs and Their Agents in the Organization of Marketing Tasks

During the last two decades numerous articles in scientific journals have discussed and studied the growing phenomena of International New Ventures and Born Global Firms. While many scholars in this burgeoning field have hitherto studied the foundation of these firm and focused on founder characteristics (such as human capital), mediating factors (such as network connections), and performance outcomes, very few studies have examined how such firms organize their on-going international marketing tasks, for example, how they identify and service customers on foreign markets. The present chapter contributes with knowledge to this gap in the literature. It conceives of marketing tasks in terms of the respective roles of the firm and its existing agents/distributors in identifying Business-to-Business customers on international markets. Prior studies either emphasize a strong role for the agents in initiating and developing customer relations or argue that the role of information and communication technology is replacing the traditional role of agents in this regard. Based on these insights, we propose a 2×2 typology of International New Ventures/Born Globals based on the extent to which they organize these particular marketing tasks in relation to their existing agents. We explore this through the use of a multiple case study of four firms in the fashion apparel design industry. The case data suggest the need for a more nuanced approach to understanding the respective roles than previously suggested.