Contemporary transitions in the international activities of startups and their policy implications

Abstract Dynamic changes in global technological and geopolitical dynamics have stimulated major shifts in international entrepreneurship (IE) research. In this study, we highlight four such major transitions in scholarly thinking about the international activities of startups in advanced countries that have important implications for public policies: (1) the changing role of digitization from enablers startups’ international activities to intangible strategic agents; (2) the transition to an ecosystem -centric view emphasizing platforms and network-based approaches; (3) fractured geopolitics and their market contestability implications; and (4) the evolution towards sustainable growth. We label these four transitions DEFS (Digitization, Ecosystems, Fracture, Sustainability). In turn, these four transitions require supplementing the traditional market opportunity-based definition of the international activities of startups with a focus on the connectivity of people, money, ideas, and intellectual capital. We discuss the public policy implications of these transitions.