Born global or incremental internationalization? Case study of the internationalization process of three knowledge-based businesses

Referring to the common internationalization models in the world and observing its general process, indicates the main differences in these models and the way forward of companies for this process, so that incremental internationalization and born global companies can be seen in two heads of internationalization spectrum. In this article, while examining the experience of the internationalization process of the three Iranian knowledge-based companies, we are supposed to investigate its similarities and differences in compare to the mentioned models.For the mentioned analysis, after examining the theoretical foundations, the information extracted from the case study of the internationalization process of three knowledge-based companies active in the field of health during ten years was used. Then, the conceptual framework of the research was extracted using the content analysis technique in the form of twenty steps of internationalization of companies in four general categories. After the approval of the framework by the focus group, a questionnaire using the identified steps was designed and provided to 46 experts in the field of internationalization. The output of the factor analysis performed afterwards indicates the confirmation of the dimensions of the proposed framework by the experts.The results show that the process of internationalization in the research are is closer to traditional or incremental models and can be divided into four general stages that can be described in the stages of empowerment, pilot exports, regular and active exports in the international arena.