Comportamento Empreendedor de Empresas Maduras na Internacionalização: Evidências de um Setor de Alta Tecnologia

The study investigates the international trajectories of leading entrepreneurial firms in the Brazilian software industry using an international entrepreneurship perspective. The following research question guided the study: How does a mature entrepreneurial firm’s international expansion evolve and how does it differ from a typical international new venture’s path? The research adopts the case study method of investigation. The study analyzes three cases of leading high-tech Brazilian firms in the software development industry, whose internationalization processes occurred at least ten years after inception. The analysis uses a cross-case comparison, followed by a pattern-matching analysis with the extant literature on international new ventures and born globals. The results show that the late internationalization of the mature entrepreneurial firms examined in this study differs markedly from that of INVs or BGs on the following aspects: risk taking, competitive strategies, international vision since inception and entrepreneur´s previous international experience. Nevertheless, the two types of firm have in common innovativeness, proactiveness and networking capabilities.