The interrelated impact of social networks and knowledge acquisition on internationalisation process of high-tech small firms

The foreign development of high-tech start-ups is an important issue, since international activity requires specific knowledge that new firms may find it difficult to locate and acquire. It has been found that the pattern of foreign development in high-tech start-ups differs from that of conventional companies, starting to act in foreign markets soon after their establishment. This study seeks to articulate, basing on embeddedness prospective, how inter-organizational social network ties may influence internationalization of start-ups. According to research of Yli-Renko, Autio e Sapienza (2001), we argue that different dimensions of social capital embedded in relationships between high-tech start-ups and their foreign customers improve the start-ups’ knowledge acquisition from these relationships and that this acquired knowledge may then be exploited for international positioning. The hypotheses are tested with face to face survey data from high-tech start-ups in Italy. Our findings confirm the hypothesis that the competitive advantage of international start-ups is conditioned by social relationships, which may either facilitate or bind such a propensity influencing both knowledge acquisition and knowledge exploitation abroad. Consequently, by affirming the strategic link between social capital, knowledge acquisition and knowledge exploitation in foreign markets, we realize a further interaction between the domains of entrepreneurship and internationalization research.