Internationalization of welfare stimulating start-up accelerators

• Autor(a) principal: Coppitters, Hendrik Jozef Brigitte Odile
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/22770
• topic: Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Sociais::Economia e Gestão

The goal of this thesis is to fill the gap in the literature regarding the internationalization processes used by welfare stimulators, a type of start-up accelerators that have as objective to drive the growth of a regional or national start-up ecosystem. More specifically, we look at how their local mission can be reconciled with their international dimension. To answer the research question, we used the case-study method applied on one Portuguese and one Finnish welfare stimulator. Interviews were the key technique to collect primary data, and internal and external documentation provided secondary data. We concluded that both welfare stimulators use internationalization to better fulfil their mission. Both companies use insourcing as a market entry mode, as this mode allows them to reach an international dimension without compromising on their local mission.