The Impact of Domestic Startups' Organizational Capabilities and Market Volatility on Global Expansion: Focusing on the moderating effect of CEO Global Orientation.

Startups are actively pursuing entry into global markets as a critical strategy to overcome the limitations of the domestic market and achieve sustainable growth. Against this backdrop, the present study aims to identify the key factors influencing the decision of domestic startups to expand globally. The research model was constructed by designating firm capabilities and market volatility as independent variables, with CEO global orientation included as a moderating variable. To test the hypotheses, a survey was conducted targeting 295 employees from early-stage startups with a business duration of five years or less. This study systematically analyzed, first, the causal effects of startups’ firm capabilities and market volatility on the decision to enter global markets. Second, it examined the moderating role of CEO global orientation in the relationship between these variables and the global expansion decision. The findings revealed that among the sub-factors of firm capabilities—technological capability, market information utilization capability, and network capability—as well as the market dynamism aspect of market volatility, all exerted a positive influence on the decision to expand globally. Conversely, the market hostility dimension of market volatility was found to have a negative effect. Furthermore, CEO global orientation was demonstrated to moderate only the relationships between network capability and market dynamism with the global expansion decision. Based on these results, several implications for promoting startups’ global market entry can be drawn. First, technological capability and network capability were confirmed as core internal factors in the decision-making process for global expansion. Startups aspiring to enter international markets should actively leverage collaborative relationships with internal and external organizations to strengthen networking and focus on developing differentiated technologies that are competitive abroad. Second, to overcome the limitations of startups, such as shortages in human resources and infrastructure, comprehensive and systematic support measures—including network building and technology commercialization assistance—are necessary to facilitate global market entry. Overall, the study suggests that startups must strategically enhance their firm capabilities while proactively managing market volatility to achieve successful global expansion and thereby foster sustainable corporate growth.