Firms’ Early Internationalization Processes and Their Association With Founders’ Entrepreneurial Experience and Financial Performance

This research contributes to the literature on firms’ early internationalization processes (EIPs) and related streams, especially the knowledge-based view and the literature on habitual entrepreneurs, by demonstrating that exporters adopt EIPs that differ from those previously identified. The authors identify EIPs based on 994 Estonian exporters founded between 2014 and 2017 and track their export performance during their first five years of operation. They link EIPs to entrepreneurial types, showing that habitual entrepreneurs with prior export experience are more likely to follow EIPs characterized by faster, more sustained, and more intensive international expansion. These EIPs are, in turn, associated with stronger financial performance.