Building the Born Globals: Evidence from Bulgarian Manufacturing Family Firms

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to explore the internationalisation of family firms in the manufacturing sector of the Bulgarian economy, answering the questions: why and how these firms internationalise. A qualitative approach was adopted for the study and data were collected via face-to-face interviews with the owner-managers of family firms. The derived information was coded so that the case firms would be analysed using the same approaches. Research findings show that the early internationalisation of the case firms makes them fall into the category of born globals. The main reasons for the early internationalisation of the studied firms were found to be rooted mostly in the protective behaviour of their owners-managers, their personal characteristics and contacts, the specificity of the transitional context and the market limitations among others. This study is pioneering in transition contexts and is expected to be useful for academics, practicians and policy decision-makers.