When borders are no longer merely geographical and technological, Technology-Based Firms (TBFs) face significant challenges. While the speed of the internationalization processes is undoubtedly an important element, such firms must also deal with issues relating to the longevity of their international operations. For TBFs in particular, the potential perishability of their international operations constitutes a challenge that requires both speed and agility to ensure the ongoing viability of global operations. In such studies, internationalization speed is defined as the period between its inception and its first international activity.

The scenario of greater accessibility resulting from technological developments and the rise of the Internet over the last few decades has enabled companies to do business and compete in global markets. Scholars have investigated many different aspects of the internationalization process, and research about internationalization speed has been growing in intensity recently. However, most internationalization studies focus on the time elapsed from a firm’s inception to its internationalization. Other studies (e.g., Casillas & Acedo, 2013; Hilmersson & Johanson, 2016; Mayer & Floriani, 2021) also investigate the speed over time beyond their initial international activities. The perception of time between TBFs can have different nuances compared to mature industries, especially as technological advances pressure them to reconfigure assets at an ever-increasing speed, compromising the longevity of their overseas operations.

In this study, we address the gap in the literature on the time perception of TBFs, as they seek to balance speed and longevity in their internationalization processes. Despite the efforts to understand the speed of internationalization and link the subject to firm’s performance, there has been little discussion of the relation between internationalization speed and the survival and subsequent longevity of international operations (Mayer & Floriani, 2021). Many studies discussing international business ventures’ survival are based on behavioral theory, focusing particularly on the entrepreneur’s profile or previous international experience and relationships (Oviatt & McDougall, 1995).

Research into internationalization speed has connections with born global studies. Born globals are firms that enter foreign markets shortly after inception (i.e., at high speed). Studies about born globals have investigated many different sectors and predominantly focused on the manufacturing and high-tech sectors (Fayena et al., 2020; Roecker & Floriani, 2022). However, to our knowledge, there are few in-depth studies of different internationalization patterns in TBFs. Andersson et al. (2014) argue that industry factors influence the international development of new ventures. For instance, new information technology makes it easier to transfer financial resources, information, and knowledge internationally. These developments have provided firms with alternatives to choose from among international strategies. However, firms in specific industries can benefit more from this new technology, such as firms with products that can be transferred digitally. In line with that argument, we are interested in investigating whether TBFs selling their products to customers in traditional or creative sectors exhibit differences in terms of the speed of internationalization and the survival of their international operations over time (Lazzeretti et al., 2008).

Considering time perception as an idiosyncratic element of internationalization, we explore which factors influence the internationalization speed and longevity of international operations of TBFs. Therefore, we gathered TBFs into two groups based on the type of services provided, considering the features of their clients. We analyzed the internationalization processes through which of these TBFs entered the international market after their foundation and the length of time they continued operating abroad, considering survival over time. Using a qualitative approach, we conducted a multiple case study of four internationalized TBFs from Brazil.

Our findings suggest that the intensity of organizational creativity as a resource influences a company’s development and internationalization speed. In line with recent studies (e.g., Castillo-Vergara et al., 2022), creativity and technology are prominent topics to investigate together. TBFs that develop software for creative sectors exhibit differences in terms of internationalization speed and the longevity of their international operations compared with TBFs that develop software for traditional industries.

Although speed and longevity are semantically different, they are closely related in international business studies. Their differing conceptualizations, but similar origins, merit an appreciation of how these constructs emerged.

Yin (1994) suggests that a case study is an appropriate research strategy when the aim is to answer “how” or “why” questions, to understand a contemporary set of events over which researchers have little control. Studying more than one organization can add supplementary information on a subject. This section describes the field in which we conducted this study and the respective analyses.

This section describes the cases individually, covering their history, influences on internationalization speed, and factors contributing to international operations’ survival.

We cross-analyzed the cases as a matrix, crossing speed and longevity. To analyze how traditional and creative TBFs face speed, we follow Casillas and Acedo (2013), considering ratios between the number of markets entered and time taken and foreign and total assets, as well as the cycle of capability acquisition proposed by Freixanet and Renart (2020). To evaluate longevity, we followed Mohr and Batsakis (2017), who consider how the ratio between international and total sales evolves. Besides, we followed Prashantham and Young (2011), gathering perceptions from the interviewees about how they generate innovative resources in international markets and gain access to international knowledge. We observed that they combine technological, cultural, and institutional perceptions that potentially represent an advantage in other markets (Barkema & Drogendijk, 2007; Cunha et al., 2022).

One of the first characteristics that differentiate the creative TBF from the traditional TBF is internationalization speed. While the traditional TBF enters the international market late, the creative TBF internationalizes within five years after its foundation, one of the characteristics of a born global.

Creative TBFs internationalize rapidly, and the critical role of networks in their internationalization speed is evident. Although networks also affect traditional TBFs, the effect is much less intense. Table 3 summarizes data on the cases presented in the previous section.

Table 3

	Creative TBFs		Traditional TBFs
	Company A	Company B	Company C	Company D
Foundation	2012	1996	1992	1993
Exports start	2017	2000	2002	2011
No. of employees	620	396	250	87
Speed of internationalization	Five years	Four years	Ten years	18 years
Scope of international operations	20 countries, focusing on Colombia, Mexico, Argentina, Portugal, and Spain	Latin America, Germany, the Caribbean, and Africa	Operations in 75 countries. Resellers in Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, and Bolivia.	Argentina
Longevity	Three years	20 years	18 years	Nine years
Exp/total revenue	5%	10%	25%	1%
Distribution channel	Internet	Internet	Local distributor	Local distributor

Source: Research data.

Competition stands out as one of the crucial factors in the internationalization speed of the firms studied. While creative TBFs identified opportunities to enter non-competitive markets, the traditional TBFs studied went the other way and opted to operate in markets where their products are up against intense competition. Although the way TBFs position themselves concerning the competition is aligned with the findings of Oviatt and McDougall (2005) - which indicates that the internationalization of small and young firms does not follow the dominant logic of staged internationalization found in the international business literature - there are nuances that should be considered more carefully. While the creative TBFs tended to internationalize rapidly and remained international irrespective of the intensity of the competition, traditional TBFs assessed the competition and tended to avoid markets in which they identified a greater risk of failing to sustain their operations over the long term. The findings also align with Andersson et al. (2014), showing that firms in traditional mature sectors must act according to the more stable industry structure. The firms in new growing industries have more opportunities to act in new creative ways.

Another feature of born globals, related to the cases studied here, is the products and services they sell and the distribution channels they use (Gabrielsson & Gabrielsson, 2011). The creative TBFs use the Internet as their product distribution channel, making their product offering virtually self-service. The customer makes the purchase and immediately uses the tool (Gabrielsson & Gabrielsson, 2011). However, traditional TBFs studied sell through local distributors, who resell and implement the product after adjustment, resulting in higher costs and lower revenues, given the existence of intermediaries in the internationalization process.

Although there are some similarities between the internationalization processes of creative and traditional TBFs, such as following their foreign clients or Brazilian partners’ internationalization processes, creative TBFs prospected for potential overseas customers who bought their products even before they had been adapted to suit them. This feature constitutes an oscillation between decision-making processes based on causation and effectuation logic (Prashantham et al., 2019).

Foreign operations account for a relatively small proportion of total revenues in the companies studied. In the creative TBFs, international revenue accounts for between 5 and 10% of revenues. In the traditional TBFs, there is a considerable difference between the two cases, with 15% for C and 1% for D. In the case of company C, in which the average ticket value of their software is significant, the clients it serves are outstanding performers in both domestic and international markets. These factors may explain the high revenues from foreign markets. It is essential to consider that company C took ten years to internationalize. Also, Company C has been active in the international market for 20 years and in more than 75 countries. According to the literature (Hilmersson & Johanson, 2016; Mohr & Batsakis, 2017), there is a positive relationship between revenue and the number of countries in which a company operates. The more countries in which a company operates internationally, the higher its turnover.

On the other hand, the relationship between percentage of international sales and size (Hilmersson & Johanson, 2016) does not influence sales. Creative TBFs have more employees and a small international turnover concerning total sales. One can observe in the descriptions of the cases that Companies A and B are beginning their internationalization processes, which should considerably increase their revenues as they sell in more countries (Hilmersson & Johanson, 2016; Oviatt & McDougall, 2005) and new networks are formed (Gabrielsson & Gabrielsson, 2011). The importance of innovation is notable in case D’s description and, especially, creativity in the internationalization process (de Vasconcellos et al., 2019). TBFs that develop traditional software tend to innovate less and, consequently, have a smaller international scope, lower turnover, and shorter longevity of international operations. In both creative TBF cases, technological innovation stands out, absorbed by access to information from the first foreign markets in which they operated. Companies A and B quickly applied product improvements and gained technological advantage to compete globally (Prashantham & Young, 2011).

Regarding creativity, it is evident from the reports of the creative TBFs that being part of the creative technological group influences their international operations’ longevity and increases their international involvement. Our findings confirm those pointed out by de Vasconcellos et al. (2019), who investigated organizational creativity in international involvement using innovative and entrepreneurial capabilities as mediating variables. The evidence also corroborates Mohr and Batsakis’ (2017) findings on the positive effect of intangible assets on international operations, highlighting creativity as a competitive advantage for a fast internationalization process and survival of international operations.

Within Company D, the language was not the only barrier since specific legal and cultural systems also constituted obstacles. Innovation is limited. Thus, increasing revenues and the number of countries served will likely be even more time-consuming and costly for the company (Cavusgil & Knight, 2015). Another factor that may explain the difference in turnover between the companies investigated is their interest in the domestic market. While firm C, a traditional TBF present in over 75 countries over 20 years, has adopted a strategy of increasing sales efficiency using genuine knowledge about each country, company D is still not familiar with foreign legal systems, and the domestic market demands much of the company’s resources. For company D, doing business in the external market increases its value and legitimacy in the domestic market, even though it has no competitive advantage abroad, as was found by Prashantham and Young (2011).

For companies A and B, interest lies in the international market. Consequently, adaptations were necessary as their services were conceived and designed to meet the needs of each country. Changes and adaptations are strong indications of sustainability abroad, such as content and software produced in each country’s local language and support provided according to the time zone. These elements direct the company’s strategy to the foreign market and indicate growth potential, corroborating recent studies (Stal, 2010). Another important factor that indicates the prospects for the survival of international operations is the human resources strategy. Internal teams formed by foreigners, natives from target countries, and people with previous international experience drive the company’s international culture to the global environment (Stal, 2010). Previous international experience was crucial in creative TBFs (Prashantham & Young, 2011). The interviews show that managers’ international experiences and professional involvement in a broad range of countries provided knowledge and access to networks contributing to international operations’ longevity.

In the cases of creative TBFs, two factors stand out as sources of competitive advantages and as influential in the survival of their international operations. Firm A has a strategy of rapidly increasing the scope of operations into culturally similar countries to mitigate the risk of relying financially on a single country and developing products for new markets more quickly, confirming findings reported by Preece et al. (1999) and Autio (2005). In all the cases studied, firms remained international after entering foreign markets, i.e., none failed to survive internationally. However, they faced challenges constantly adapting products and service structures as they became better acquainted with markets (Stal, 2010) with different effects on the speed and longevity of international operations, as previously warned by Mayer and Floriani (2021).

In sum, Figure 1 shows the matrix between speed and longevity for creative and traditional TBFs.

Figure 1.

The analysis indicates that traditional and creative TBFs have no significant difference in longevity, but this condition may result from different aspects. While traditional TBFs depend more on internationalized clients, creative TBFs achieve longevity by accessing the information available in foreign markets and using networks more intensively. Regarding speed, creative TBFs expand more quickly because they take advantage of virtual channels and face less competition than traditional TBFs.

Considering the literature on speed in the internationalization process, our findings about TBFs align with Casillas and Acedo (2013). Generally, the number of markets achieved in each period, and the ratio between international sales and total sales, are speed conditions. Nevertheless, the third condition proposed by these authors - the commitment to resources - like access to virtual channels, information access, and strong networks - allows creative TBFs to be faster than traditional TBFs. This condition connects with Freixanet and Renart’s (2020) findings about the type of learning through experimentation during internationalization.

Our findings confirm that innovative resources are crucial for TBFs to sustain their operations, as previously detected by Prashantham and Young (2011), referring to the survival and longevity of international operations. TBFs acquire knowledge about culture, laws, and novel technology when internationalized, and this condition strengthens their longevity, as proposed by Barkema and Drogendijk (2007). Hence, they can update their managerial practices, combining the experience acquired by human resources, as previously noted by Morris et al. (2005). Nevertheless, TBFs have different responses depending on their creativity, as referred by de Vasconcellos et al. (2019). Our findings reveal that the longevity of traditional and creative TBFs is similar but based on different conditions. While Traditional TBFs sustain their international operations based on clients’ positions in international markets, creative TBFs use their networks more intensively. Complementary to the categories we primarily investigated, organizational creativity emerged as an inductive category. Especially creative TBFs reported how they think and act creatively to accelerate and sustain their international operations.

It was possible to identify some characteristics that differentiate the two groups of TBFs. Creative TBFs internationalized earlier and achieved internationalization more rapidly via the Internet, although there was no difference in terms of survival. In the cases analyzed, survival is more related to the capacity to follow customers that are internationalized or enter networks that enable firms to serve new clients abroad.

Table 4 summarizes the elements of the internationalization process of creative and traditional TBFs, highlighting the deductive categories of this study: speed and longevity of the internationalization process. Based on the analysis of the initial questions that inspired this paper, with individual descriptions of the cases and analysis of them in conjunction, we present a framework outlining the main elements that influence the internationalization speed and longevity of international operations in the TBFs studied.

Table 4

	Creative TBFs	Traditional TBFs
Speed	Networks Previous international experience Prospecting for potential foreign clients Exploiting markets without competition Internet as a distribution channel Creativity as an intangible asset	Networks Large accounts (foreigners or Brazilian clients who work abroad) Software for existing demands
Longevity	A more significant number of countries Higher turnover Technological innovation Adaptation of products, processes, and structure Targeted marketing; creativity as an intangible asset	Large accounts (large clients) Company’s market value Adaptation of products

Source: Research data.

This paper’s general objective was to analyze the internationalization process of creative and traditional TBFs concerning their internationalization speed and the length of time their international operations survive. To achieve this, we presented the internationalization processes of creative and traditional TBFs. Initially, many findings were observed when analyzing TBFs in creative and traditional groups. Previous research has treated TBFs as a single type without understanding that a distinction can be made regarding the intensity of creativity embedded in their services.

In general, we observed that the literature characterizes TBFs as born globals. However, regarding the first question investigated, the creative TBFs internationalized faster, within five years of foundation, compared to the traditional TBFs, which internationalized more than ten years after foundation. Triangulation of the data revealed that creative TBFs exhibited a series of additional elements that influenced their internationalization speed. While the internationalization processes of traditional TBFs were only accelerated by networks, large accounts, and selling software to an existing demand, creative TBFs also leveraged international networks from a period before their foundation and other accelerating elements. These additional elements include the accumulation of previous and consistent international experiences by their managers, which enabled the construction of international networks and made possible an international perspective on the business right from inception. Other elements include overseas customers’ demand for innovation and product creativity and the inexistence of direct competitors, compounded by the speed with which creative TBFs can create, sell, and deliver their products to the user over the Internet.

Regarding internationalization speed, there is evidence that creativity, as an intangible asset, which is intrinsic to the product, is one of the elements that enabled creative TBFs to access markets abroad more quickly. In contrast, for traditional TBFs, products were the cause of delaying the internationalization process since they first had to overcome technical, legal, and cultural barriers that required adjustment before entering the international market. However, a fast internationalization process is no guarantee that operations will be sustainable over time. For this reason, we also sought to evaluate the characteristics of survival and longevity of the international operations of creative and traditional TBFs. Except for case D, in the cases investigated, building long-lasting relationships with internationally known clients was a factor that facilitated winning new businesses and is consequently reflected in their longevity in foreign markets, both for creative and traditional TBFs.

Furthermore, it was apparent that, although creativity is an intangible resource that is difficult to measure, creative TBFs were notable for their ability to internationalize rapidly. This may indicate creativity is a factor that impacts both on how long a firm takes to start to internationalize and how quickly it proceeds once started. The cases analyzed did not provide sufficient data to indicate whether creativity impacts internationalization longevity, which remains to be explored in the future. Regarding this limitation, a suggestion for future research is to apply a survey in Brazilian TBFs to identify the relationship between creativity and internationalization longevity as well as speed and survival. A limitation of this exploratory study is that it is not possible to conclude over specific aspects, and results cannot be generalized. This research avenue should be investigated using a larger sample in which the greater or lesser intensity of creativity in firms’ operations is controlled. The contribution of this study is to generate insights for a new research stream, which is the relationship between creativity and internationalization speed and especially the relationship between speed, survival, and longevity of operations abroad. Finally, despite the richness of the Brazilian context in exploring the effects of speed and longevity in the internationalization of TBFs, it is possible that studies in more or less internationally interconnected industries in other scenarios could offer an alternative lens to explore the effects of speed, longevity, and also the effects of creativity on the internationalization path.

We also emphasize creativity as a build-block resource to be transformed into an intangible asset for the generation of competitive advantage, as already shown by de Vasconcellos et al. (2019). The results of this paper infer that creative TBFs have advantages compared to traditional TBFs that enable them to access foreign markets sooner after foundation and facilitate the survival of their international operations, provided that their innovation and creativity can be sustained over time. Creativity, as an intangible resource, can be understood in different ways. This paper analyzes firms from technology-related creative industries producing software, as suggested by Lazzeretti et al. (2008). The so-called traditional ones were identified by the alignment of software production for traditional manufacturing industries, that is, a better-known sector. Many other characteristics of creativity can be found in the TBFs, suggesting new studies to evaluate characteristics such as creativity in generating ideas, processes, and new services.

Therefore, we consider that the argument based on creativity, an emergent inductive category in this study, is a relevant contribution to International Business theories, notably theories that address the speed of access to international markets and the resilience of international operations. Our contribution lies in the discussion that a quick entry to international markets after foundation is vital for TBFs, but that international operations’ sustainability is even more relevant.

Finally, the results indicate that our first question has an inconclusive answer and deserves further investigation. The perception of time among TBFs is different and possibly is influenced by how creative a TBF is and how dependent they are on their clients in creating products and services. Nevertheless, we believe that the findings of this study are helpful to TBF organizations in three main aspects. The first is their contribution to understanding the elements that accelerate the internationalization process of non-internationalized TBFs. The second is that the factors identified as related to the survival of the international operations of TBFs enable internationalized TBFs to find support to sustain their operations abroad over time. Finally, the third contribution is the understanding that creativity must be transformed into an asset of competitive value for the internationalization process of TBFs. Whether internationalized or not, innovation must be as dynamic as the initial strategies of creative or traditional TBFs.