The "outsider" entrepreneurs: the role of founders' immigrant status in the internationalization and performance of high technology new ventures.

Abstract

While it is well-established that founders influence strategies and performance in young companies, little is known about the influence of founders' immigrant status on the early internationalization or the survival and growth of new high technology ventures. Traditionally, it has been assumed that immigrant entrepreneurs are disadvantaged relative to local entrepreneurs because they have limited access to resources and markets in their country of adoption. In this paper, I use the concept of outsiderness, which refers to the foreignness of founders in the social context in which they start their businesses. By drawing on the behavioral theory of the firm, I argue that although outsider status of entrepreneurs may convey some disadvantages domestically, this very status may serve both as a spur to encourage international efforts and insights to allow such efforts to flourish. In the empirical analyses, I use the Kauffman Firm Survey on newly founded high technology ventures in the U.S. My results show that new high-tech ventures with outsider founders are more likely to internationalize early, and to operate in wider geographic markets relative to firms with native founders. Results also show that immigrant status has a negative effect on the survival and growth of international new ventures.