Internationalisation of High-Tech Start-Ups and Fast Growth - Evidence for UK and Germany

24 Pages Posted: 7 May 2003

See all articles by Oliver Burgel

Oliver Burgel

London Business School

Andreas Fier

Deutsche Telekom AG

Georg Licht

ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research

Gordon C. Murray

University of Exeter Business School

Date Written: 2000

Abstract

For firms acting in technological niches the expansion into foreign markets can be a way to increase sales and to thus to recover initial sunk costs over a shorter time frame. Our research, based on survey data for nearly 600 British and German high-tech start-ups, examines whether internationalisation leads to faster growth among high-tech start-ups. Results show that firms with international sales have higher sales growth than firms that sell only domestically. We find that technological sophistication of products and the experience of entrepreneurs has a positive impact on growth. In addition, intense competition and shorter windows of opportunity increase the pressure to grow rapidly to appropriate the returns from innovation. The findings suggest that high tech firm founders should be more determinedly international in their vision and strategies from the very start of their business to increase the economic success of their efforts.

Keywords: start-ups, high-technology industries, internationalisation

JEL Classification: L21, L60, F23

Suggested Citation

Burgel, Oliver and Fier, Andreas H. and Licht, Georg and Murray, Gordon C., Internationalisation of High-Tech Start-Ups and Fast Growth - Evidence for UK and Germany (2000). ZEW Discussion Paper No.00-35, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=373940 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.373940

Oliver Burgel

London Business School ( email )

Sussex Place
Regent's Park
London, London NW1 4SA
United Kingdom

Andreas H. Fier

Deutsche Telekom AG ( email )

Friedrich Ebert Allee 140
Bonn, 53113
Germany
+49 228 181 99520 (Phone)
+49 621 181 99599 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://www.telekom.de

Georg Licht (Contact Author)

ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research ( email )

P.O. Box 10 34 43
L 7,1 D-68161 Mannheim
Germany

Gordon C. Murray

University of Exeter Business School ( email )

Streatham Court
Rennes Drive
Exeter EX4 4PU
United Kingdom
+44 777 522 0857 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://business-school.exeter.ac.uk/staff/profile.php?id=34

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