Internationalization and performance of Indian born globals: Moderating role of presence of foreign equity

The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to study internationalization-performance relationship of Indian born global (IBG) firms from multi-theoretical lens and establish the nature of this relationship; second, to highlight the role of foreign equity in moderating this relationship; and third, to establish the relevance of export intensity (EI) in determining these firms’ financial performance.

In total, 411 IBG firms were identified based on born global (BG) definition and post-entry internationalization age requirement of this study. A balanced panel comprising of three years from 2010 to 2012 was analyzed using pooled panel and moderated multiple regression techniques.

The authors empirically prove that though EI and financial performance are positively related at overall level, this relationship is curvilinear in nature. In presence of foreign equity this positive curvilinear relationship is moderated to inverted-U shape.

The data sample is restricted to 411 private limited IBGs between the years 2009 and 2012. Implications of the findings are for policy makers and managers to sharpen their strategic foresight for exporting firms in its post-entry period. Also, investors can take level of internationalization into cognizance when investing in BG firms.

The authors believe the results have practical implications for numerous parties, such as shareholders, institutional investors, scholars, policymakers and managers. It emboldens modern day managers to make further foray into internationalization due to its positive benefits on both productivity as well as profitability. Also, firms that look for foreign equity participation have to balance their strategies for greater scale and scope into international markets.

This is the first study that brings out the vital relationship aspect of EI with financial performance of IBG firms in their post-entry internationalization period, adding to international business literature in area of BG firms in their post-entry internationalization period.