While IE literature neglects international innovative activities of born globals (BGs), literature on international innovation management focusses on large firms only. We investigate into this gap, proposing a framework to understand where and why BGs engage in such activities. We operationalise and test this framework with both quantitative and qualitative data. Focussing on the Chinese business environment, and resorting to an organisational learning and competitive advantage perspective, we show that the basic motivation for the conduct of international innovatory activities is independent of firm size yet particularly attractive for BGs to generate and sustain competitive advantage on an international basis.