European Born Globals ― Job Creation in Young International Businesses

In the aftermath of the global recession, job creation is a policy priority. While it is a well-accepted fact that the majority of jobs are created by small and medium-sized enterprises, not all SMEs are rapidly growing, or even intend to expand. With limited public budgets, business models within the SME population that do show high job creation potential become very attractive.

One of the business types identified as major engines of job creation are ‘born globals’ characterised as firms which engage intensively in internationalisation activities shortly after start-up. They are high on the entrepreneurship research agenda but so far little attention has been devoted to their potential as job creators, the processes they apply when hiring and the barriers they face.

Through a combination of secondary data analysis, literature reviews and international case studies, European Born Globals sheds new light on the motivations and processes of job creation in born global firms. It will contribute to understanding the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of job creation in born globals, essential not only for policy makers, but also for academic research and management education.

Irene Mandl is Research Manager at the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. She holds a master degree in international business administration and one in business and law. Irene has been working in policy-oriented socio-economic research in the field of employment and labour market as well as entrepreneurship and industry analysis for more than 15 years. Some of her major research topics refer to SMEs, internationalisation, business start-ups and transfers, specific forms of entrepreneurship (e.g. one-person enterprises, family businesses, ethnic entrepreneurship), Corporate Social Responsibility and HR Management. She has presented her research in numerous national and international conferences and most recently contributed to the ‘Handbook of Research on International Entrepreneurship Strategy’ (Ghauri, P.N./Kirpalani, V.H.M, Handbook of Research on International Entrepreneurship Strategy. Improving SME Performance Globally, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2015) with a chapter on European SMEs’ internationalisation.

Stefanie Ledermaier is Research Officer at the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. She holds an MA in European Studies from the University of Bath and an MSc in Applied Labour Economics for Development from Sciences Po Paris and the University of Turin jointly delivered at the International Training Centre of the ILO in Turin, Italy. Prior to joining Eurofound she has worked as a research officer in European employment policy at the Institute for Employment Studies in London. Previously she was also a trainee at the OECD and the Council of the European Union. Since joining Eurofound she has been involved in various projects including most recently on ‘Job creation in SMEs’.