Until recently, internationalization was seen as predominantly performed by large and well established firms, since young entrepreneurial firms especially face the risks of internationalization due to their limited assets. Firms which start international operations right or near from inception, and, thus take the therewith connected risks and uncertainties, are called Early Internationalizers or International New Ventures. This phenomenon is increasingly recognized in the last years, especially in innovative technologies. However, scholarly inquiry concerning this interesting issue is limited so far.

This work is devoted to the foundation and development of International New Ventures and empirically investigates this phenomenon by observing a population of German High-technology firms. In the first part of this work, International New Ventures and their domestic staying counterparts, so called Domestic New Ventures are compared to each other. In doing so, it is dealt with questions such as how important are e. g. the prior international experience of the founder or international network contacts? And how do liabilities of foreignness change the impact of these factors? In the second part, it is analyzed if International New Ventures are a rather homogeneous group of firms or if different subcategories exist. And if so, which factors account for these differences? At the same time it is discussed whether all International New Ventures profit from operating in many foreign countries, or if some might be well advised to conduct a focussed internationalization.