JOSEFINAS: FROM PORTUGAL WITH LOVE A CASE STUDY ABOUT THE BORN-GLOBAL INTERNATIONALIZATION MODEL Patrícia Alves Casimiro Project submitted as partial requirement for the conferral of Master in International Management Supervisor: Prof. Álvaro Augusto da Rosa, Assistant Professor, ISCTE Business School, Department of Marketing, Operations and General Management September 2018 - SPINE - MODEL GLOBAL INTERNATIONALIZATION INTERNATIONALIZATION GLOBAL - Patrícia Alves Casimiro Alves Patrícia JOSEFINAS: FROM PORTUGAL WITH LOVE WITH PORTUGAL FROM JOSEFINAS: A CASE STUDY ABOUT THE BORN THE ABOUT STUDY A CASE Acknowledgments I would like to take this opportunity to thank all people that supported me during my academic journey. Writing this thesis was with no doubt a challenge in so many ways, and without the constant support of my family, boyfriend, friends and co-workers it wouldn’t have been possible. First, I would like to thank my supervisor, Álvaro Rosa, for his availability, patience and feedback during this period. Without his guidance it would not have been possible to end this cycle. To my mom and dad that are always by my side. Thank you for your love, patience and encouragement. To my sister, although we fight sometimes, you are my pillar, you are always there to guide me and give me your wise advices. To my boyfriend, Ricardo, thank you for your tireless support and guidance during this journey, for always listening to me whenever I called for help, for giving me your sincere opinion and for never letting me give up. To all of you, my most sincere thank you. i List of Abbreviations AW Autonomous Work BAV Brand Asset Valuator CDC Class Discussion and Debate CEO Chief Executive Officer COO Chief Operating Officer FDI Foreign Direct Investment FP Final Presentation ICE In-Class Exposure INV International New Ventures KPI Key Performance Indicator MBA Master of Business Administration NY New York PVC Polyvinyl chloride SME Small and Medium Enterprises UAE United Arab Emirates USA United States of America Resources valuable, rare, hard to imitate and firms organized VRIO around them ii List of Figures Figure 1. Bloomers Organizational Structure………………………………………………...10 Figure 2. Uppsala Model Stages……………………………………………………………...37 Figure 3. Product Life Cycle Stages……………………………………………………….....38 Figure 4. The position of the company depending on the internationalization degree……….39 Figure 5. VRIO Analysis of resources and capabilities……………………………………....41 Figure 6. Pricing Orientation Approaches…………………………………………………....51 Figure 7. Brand Asset Valuator Model……………………………………………………….52 Figure 8. Case Study Lecture Plan……………………………………………….……….......53 Figure 9. Analysis VRIO of resources, capabilities and competitive advantage…………......58 Figure 10. Pricing Strategies………………………………………………………………….59 Figure 11. Brand Asset Valuator Model by Young and Rubicam…………………………....61 Figure 12. Positioning Strategies…………………………………………………………......62 iii List of Tables Table 1. Company Characteristics…………………………………………………………......2 Table 2. Case’s Key Questions and Relevant Areas………………………………………….18 Table 3. Educational Objectives………………………………………………………….......35 Table 4. Analytical tools to help answer each question……………………………………...50 Table 5. Questions to be posed to students…………………………………………………...54 Table 6. VRIO framework applied to Josefinas resources and capabilities……………….….57 iv Table of Contents 1. THE CASE STUDY: JOSEFINAS SHOES ................................................................... 1 1.1. PRESENTATION OF THE ISSUE ...................................................................................... 1 1.2. JOSEFINAS .................................................................................................................... 2 1.2.1. Company Profile .................................................................................................... 2 1.2.2. The product ............................................................................................................ 3 1.2.3. The team ............................................................................................................... 10 1.2.4. Differentiation Factors ......................................................................................... 11 1.2.5. Competitors .......................................................................................................... 12 1.2.6. Savoir-faire and technology ................................................................................. 16 1.3. PROBLEM REVIEW ..................................................................................................... 18 1.4. APPENDIX .................................................................................................................. 19 Appendix A. Josefinas Shoes inspiration and images ...................................................... 19 Appendix B. Competitors most successful shoes .............................................................. 24 Appendix C. Emails exchanged with Josefinas ................................................................ 27 Appendix D. Customers opinion of Josefinas................................................................... 33 2. PEDAGOGICAL NOTE ............................................................................................... 34 2.1. CASE’S TARGET AUDIENCE ....................................................................................... 34 2.2. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES ....................................................................................... 35 2.3. LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................ 36 2.3.1. Uppsala Model ..................................................................................................... 36 2.3.2. Product Life Cycle Theory ................................................................................... 37 2.3.3. Business Network Model ...................................................................................... 39 2.3.4. Resource-Based View ........................................................................................... 40 2.3.5. Born-global .......................................................................................................... 42 2.4. METHODOLOGY......................................................................................................... 48 2.4.1. Data Collection and Analysis ............................................................................... 48 2.5. ANALYTICAL TOOLS ................................................................................................. 50 2.6. LECTURE PLAN .......................................................................................................... 53 2.7. LECTURE ISSUES TO BE POSED TO THE STUDENTS ...................................................... 54 2.8. QUESTIONS RESOLUTION .......................................................................................... 55 Question 1. What are the critical success factors of Josefinas in the global market? ..... 55 v Question 2. How is Josefinas integrated in the luxury footwear industry? ..................... 58 Question 3. In terms of Management and Human Resources is Josefinas equipped with the necessary capabilities to be successful in the born-global model? ................................. 62 Question 4. Is the high level of technology a mandatory factor for born-globals to succeed? .......................................................................................................................................... 65 2.9. CASE RESOLUTION SLIDES ......................................................................................... 67 2.10. MANAGEMENT CONCLUSIONS TO BE DRAWN FROM THE CASE IN QUESTION .............. 79 3. BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................... 82 vi Abstract Technology has transformed the world, especially the business market; it is the cause of disruption for many industries that had to adapt to this new generation and develop new ways of doing business and expanding their knowledge. As a consequence, a new internationalization theory was developed to explain companies’ behaviors related with international commerce: the born-global model. Born- globals are companies that direct their sells to the international market right from the start, they do not focus in a single market and do not follow a step-by-step internationalization. This model is normally used by small and medium companies that do not have many resources and therefore opt by using the internet as their most valuable resource to reach their target market. The present case study reflects a Portuguese successful case of born-global: the shoes brand Josefinas, founded in 2011. Filipa Júlio was inspired by her grandmother Josefina, the person who took her to ballet classes when she was little and made her life an adventure. Since the beginning the brand opted for selling its products exclusively online as it does not require a great amount of investment and has the advantage to have a constant feedback of what customers want. This case will, therefore, focus on the critical success factors of Josefinas, the analysis of how the brand is integrated in the luxury footwear industry, how the characteristics of a team contribute to the success of a brand and, finally, how technology impacts this type of companies. Keywords: Internationalization Models,