Factors determining the appearance of ‘born global’ companies: analysis of early internationalisation for SMES in Colombia

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to identify the factors that influence exporterbehaviour for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Colombia.Information is analysed from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM)Colombia 2010, a report related to SMEs that became international withintheir first two years of existence. The authors used the systems of structuralequations methodology, which permits the generation of a scheme of relationsamong the variables. Amongst the results is a model consistent withthe literature on the theory of internationalisation, involving aspects relatedto the internal characteristics of the organisation, the business orientation ofthe directors, and aspects related to the business environment. The businessdirectors’ orientation is the most important factor for the development ofexports (0,88), followed by internal factors (0,80) and the business environment(0,76).