Elements of Business Model for Born-global Firms: Developing Country perspectives Sheffield Hallam University By Nonso Ochinanwata & Patrick Oseloka Ezepue

Introduction Knight and Cavusgil (2004:124) define "born global firms (BGFs) as business organisations that, from or near their founding, seek superior international business performance from the application of knowledge-based resources to the sale of outputs in multiple countries". The term “born global” was first coined by Rennie (1993) when studying Australian manufacturers' exporting companies for Mackinsey and Co. Modern examples of BGFs - Facebook, Uber, Skype, WhatsApp, Google, Airbnb These types of BGFs use internet-based integrated business models to achieve high global reach from inception

The objectives of the study Which elements of the wider literature base on internationalisation and business models integrally underpin the establishment and profitable growth of BGFs? How should we develop the research, technological, learning, and teaching competences which drive BGF innovations, within and outside higher education institutions, especially in developing countries which severely lack these capabilities? The motivation for this paper is that understanding these characteristics will enable such firms to be successfully established in developing countries like Nigeria and Sub-Sahara Africa, where such firms rarely exist

The importance of the research in developing countries This is especially important given the number of jobs created by such companies and the huge problem of youth and graduate unemployment facing developing countries - Examples of such BGFs which the authors are currently developing through related doctoral research include: an African Higher Education and Research Observatory (www.afrihero.org.uk), an African marketplace (www.afrimarket.com) Uses social culturally contextualised BGF integrated business model in developing countries Hence, extends the Business Model Canvas to an Integrated Business Model Template (IBMT) which is more suitable for developing countries, Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa

Elements of Born-global Firm Business Model Elements of born-global firm business model (Source: the authors)

Characteristics of BGF Diversification Characteristics of BGF Diversification (Source: the authors)

Key features of BGF platforms Key features of BGF platforms (Source: the authors)

Applications of the BGF Business Model Elements to Afrihero Strategic objectives ICT resources, labs, subject matter knowledge, generic skills, entrepreneurial, enterprise and employability skills Competitive advantage Triple Helix of academia, industry and government, Triple E of employability, enterprise and entrepreneurship Key drivers Contract research, internships for students, innovative graduate research sponsored by companies and jointly supervised by academics and senior industry mentors Essential components Using a global database of international and home-based disciplinary and professional networks, Training workshops, Laboratory and library resources   Diversification offerings accessible to all students in Africa and globally, stakeholders in different industry sector and government Brand preferences and relevance Knowledge-based services, consulting in different industry sector of an economy Platforms Connecting HEIs, students, academics, industry and professionals

Policy Implications and conclusions The main theoretical contribution to knowledge is the extension of integrated BGF business model ideas to developing countries. The new results will be embodied in the IBMT, which will be continually validated in different industry sectors post-PhD research. The IBMT will be an integrated visual canvas for implementing and applying BGF research, teaching, learning and consulting. In summary, whilst the 3E literature provides checklists for developing entrepreneurial HEIs, the IBMT elements provide additional checklists for ensuring that resulting academic enterprises are designed from inception to scale up globally through cyber-mediated internationalisation. The literature does not also explore the dynamics for establishing BGFs in developing countries which have challenges of infrastructure and workforce with requisite skills for integrated business modelling. Hence, this paper addresses these gaps in knowledge by discussing key BGF business model elements and how they apply to prospective BGFs in Nigeria and Africa

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