Internationalizing by learning: the case of Chinese high‐tech new ventures

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand how high‐tech firms from China internationalize and to determine whether they follow the gradual internationalization model suggested by the Uppsala school and/or the rapid internationalization model as suggested by the “born global” stream of researchers. Design/methodology/approach – This is an inductive and exploratory study that tries to understand questions of how and why. A multiple case study method is used to find empirical evidence for the a priori assumptions derived from the literature. Findings – It was found that the gradual internationalization model is still valid although high‐tech firms from China internationalize much faster than suggested by earlier studies and they do not follow the process suggested by born global studies. Research limitations/implications – The authors develop a number of propositions that can be empirically tested in pursuit of theory building for the internationalization of smaller firms from emerging markets. Originality/value – The paper compares and contrasts the models suggested by Uppsala studies and by researchers in the field of born global studies and provides concrete propositions that can be tested to develop a theory for emerging market firms.