International Exposure Through Network Relationships: Implications for New Venture Internationalization
Drawing on the network literature and attention based view, we examine the extent to which international exposure from key informal (geographically proximate firms) and formal (alliance partners) network relationships impacts new venture internationalization. Our findings are three fold. First, international exposure from both types of network relationships positively influence new venture internationalization, and serve as substitutes for each other. Second, the effects differ based on the age of the venture. While older ventures benefit more from international exposure from alliance partners, younger ventures are more influenced by international exposure from geographically proximate firms. Third, our analysis confirms a three way interactive effect of age and international exposure from informal and formal relationships on new venture internationalization.