My experience as a student research assistant in researching Born globals and their stakeholders
At the beginning of the year 2023, I have been working with professor Kalanit Efrat on a project related to “Born globals” and their dedicated stakeholders that help them break into the market. From the very beginning, I found the project to be very interesting and was glad I could get a sense of the process entrepreneurs and startups have to go through to establish themselves in the market from the perspective of a researcher. It was quite inspiring and impressive to see many various ideas and stories that came to a realization. This has often been made possible by the help of relevant stakeholders, such as venture capital firms, that participate in the process and help Born globals succeed.
My part in the project was to collect qualitative data in form of interviews with relevant Born globals. In practice, this meant correctly locate those firms, reach out to them with a proposal for an interview, with ones that agreed then conduct the interview, and finally translate and transcribe the interview itself so it can be analyzed at the later stage of the project.
I am grateful I could have been a part of the project as I gained a much better understanding of the topic, learned how to conduct a research interview, and also have a better understanding of what to expect when planning a master's thesis in form of qualitative research method. I would highly recommend this experience to all students, and especially to the ones that are thinking about continuing their education journey with doctoral studies as they can get a taste of what it is going to be like.