Internationalization of the Firm

CONTENTS 7 Internationalization: evolution of a concept 83 LAWRERNCE S. WELCH and REIJO LUOSTARINEN 8 Foreign direct investment by small and medium-sized enterprises: the theoretical background 99 PETER J. BUCKLEY 9 Network relationships and the internationalisation ...

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to comprehensively explore marketing issues for foreign industrial companies of large, small and medium size entering emerging markets (EMs), particularly transition economies in Eastern Europe. The vast majority of current studies about emerging markets focus only on defining suitable strategies related to large consumer goods corporations.

Design/methodology/approach
The research adopted a multiple case study approach. Five Italian companies belonging to different business-to-business industries that have entered emerging countries in Eastern Europe were selected for investigation.

Findings
Empirical analysis uncovered recurring issues related to: institutional factors causing market uncertainty and instability; difficulties in building a sales network; a need for product adaptation to guarantee satisfactory performance; choices related to communication, branding and trade fairs; and considerations about competition and first mover advantage. Results can be interpreted as an extension of the analysis of institutional voids by Khanna and Palepu (1997).

Research limitations/implications
The study is based on the analysis of five case studies of companies operating in specific emerging markets, namely in Eastern Europe Countries (EEc) Further research based on different samples and different emerging countries is needed before generalizing results.

Practical implications
The study shows that the main institutional void affecting business-to-business companies entering emerging markets (EEc) is the lack of locally developed sales and after-sales networks. This institutional void slows the entry process of business-to-business companies in EMs. Given these constraints, from the perspective of business-to-business SMEs, it may be fruitful to pursue niche positioning in EMs.

Originality/value
The study analyzes emerging markets opportunities and entry strategies from the business-to-business marketing perspective, uncovering the most critical issues.

The purpose of this multiple case study is to explore the internationalization processes, patterns, and behaviours of BioTech firms producing a COVID-19 vaccine using the Biotechnology international new ventures (BioTech INVs) model as a conceptual framework. The sample consists of eight BioTech firms producing a COVID-19 vaccine, which is approved in at least one foreign market besides the home market in March 2021. The findings suggest that the sample firms are able to identify and to scale international market opportunities early and fast using different market entry modes, networks, and access to capital with governments, civil society, and within their own industry. The findings of our study contribute to the research about BioTech INVs and the speed of internationalization. We call for further qualitative research including interviews with subject-matter experts to better understand the internationalization behaviour of BioTech firms producing a COVID-19 vaccine.

Several internationalization theories have been developed over the past few decades that have made great contributions in explaining enterprise internationalization and their mode of entry strategy. It has been suggested that the determinants of entry mode choice of enterprises from emerging and frontier markets differ from those of comparable enterprises from advanced economies. Literature review appears to indicate that there is a need to expand the framework for entry mode strategies to accommodate the expansion issues enterprises from emerging and frontier countries face in the global marketplace. Nevertheless, not much information and an acceptable conclusion have been made on how MNEs from frontier markets internationalize and what factors influence their choice of entry into those markets.
This study investigated the internationalization strategies of Lusophone Africa MNEs from Angola and Mozambique, more specifically their entry mode. Information was gathered through a survey of 29 MNE’s upper management respondents and subsequent face-to-face semi-structured interviews with 24 of them in their countries.
The results of this study suggest that most MNEs opted for equity-based investment strategies, mainly joint venture and M&E as their preferred mode of entry when internationalizing. A significant group of them opted for e-commerce/e-business strategies, and direct and indirect exports. A smaller portion of the interviewees chose Greenfield investment as a mode of entry. Many of these MNEs could be classified as born global/INV.
Finally, this study presents a conceptual framework for use in studying the entry mode choice of enterprises from Lusophone Africa frontier markets and presents research propositions for better understanding the determinants of entry mode strategies of enterprise from Angola and Mozambique.

Keywords: Internationalization, Entry Mode, Emerging Markets, Frontier Markets, Lusophone African MNEs, Angola, Mozambique

La ricerca presentata in questo libro è stata realizzata in un arco di tempo esteso (1985-1997) per seguire i percorsi internazionali delle piccole imprese appartenenti a un distretto, quello pesarese del mobile, per il quale fin dalle origini si è evidenziata una forte presenza di economie distrettuali “di canale” nelle relazioni con i circuiti commerciali esterni, nazionali e internazionali. Si tratta di un modello di sviluppo parzialmente difforme da quello di altri sistemi distrettuali, che si è protratto nel tempo e ha maturato una diffusa coscienza dell’internazionalizzazione, sfruttando a proprio vantaggio la varietà di sollecitazioni, di interlocutori e di spazi mercato via via disponibili.
Dinamiche che, sul fronte delle imprese, hanno messo in luce una grande versatilità ma talvolta anche profili statici e scarsa permeabilità fra esperienze vissute nel mercato interno e nei mercati esteri. L’appartenenza al doppio sistema distretto-canale determina infatti un’articolazione di ruoli e un intreccio di relazioni che scaturisce dal complesso combinarsi di piccole dimensioni di impresa, distretto industriale e processi di internazionalizzazione e che richiede una visione di insieme e comportamenti coerenti.
Collocare la piccola impresa nel distretto e nel canale aiuta a riflettere sulla sua effettiva e potenziale capacità strategica, dando valore alle dinamiche relazionali nell’intera filiera di produzione e vendita e coinvolgendo quindi la dimensione distrettuale nel confronto competitivo.

This paper focuses on a comprehensive systematic review of international peer-reviewed journal articles in the field of family business internationalization for a period of 15 years. A total number of 103 articles were reviewed, published in 40 international journals, among which are Family Business Review, Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of International Business Studies, and etc. Our review indicates some important features of the evolution of the family business internationalization literature. First, studies become more interdisciplinary and they are dispersed in a wide range of journals. Second, internationalization of family small and medium-sized enterprises was arguably underexplored in the past, and yet studies on this topic experience a rapid growth in the new millennium (the peak is observed mostly in the last few years). Third, theories that are frequently used in the reviewed articles include international entrepreneurship; stage theory of internationalization; resources and capabilities; stewardship theory; agency theory, and etc. Fourth, reviewed articles, based on contradictory findings contribute to an on-going lively debate. In general, non-family enterprises outperform family enterprises and factors as family involvement in ownership and management are found to be rather restrictive than enabling internationalization. Yet, other factors such as external involvement in ownership and management are positively related to internationalization of family small and medium-sized enterprises.

A wealth of research has addressed the internationalization of firms using different theories and conceptual approaches. This paper examines the extant research on internationalization specifically delving into seven streams of research: Market Power, Evolutionary Model, Internalization & Transaction Cost, Eclectic Paradigm, Resource-Based View, Institutional and International New Ventures & Born Global. Methodologically we conduct a bibliometric review in six leading journals recognized for publishing International Business (IB) research, during a forty one year period, from 1970 to 2010. Using citations and co-citations analyses on a sample of 1,459 articles, we sought to better understand the internationalization approaches and how they are interconnected, by examining its growth over time, the most used approaches, the works that have had the greatest impact, and the intellectual interconnections among authors. We conclude that there is no dominant approach in International Business research, albeit the Evolutionary Model has been the most cited-in almost 26% of the extant research.

The delivery of transnational higher education by emerging market providers is a relatively new phenomenon. While much has been written about mainly British, U.S. and Australian providers delivering higher education programs offshore, this paper explores the transnational delivery of education by two universities from emerging markets: Mexico's Sistema Tecnológico de Monterrey (Tec de Monterrey) and Malaysia's Limkokwing University of Creative Technology. By developing a comprehensive listing of the universities' transnational engagement and motivations, and comparing them to traditional and contemporary firm internationalisation theories, the paper is able to highlight some of the key similarities and differences between the theory and practise in the context of emerging market transnational education providers. The paper finds that, despite the unique character of the sector, the patterns of internationalisation of Sistema Tecnológico de Monterrey and Limkokwing University of Creative Technology are similar to those of firms in other industries. Furthermore, recent theories explaining the internationalisation of developing country multinationals help to understand the speed at which both universities have internationalised and some of the business and non-business advantages gained from delivering programs abroad.

Publicado en 2012. Este ensayo aborda dos temas: el papel de las empresas transnacionales en la disputa por la hegemonía mundial y la competencia entre las principales empresas del mundo. La primera parte está dedicada a la discusión sobre la hegemonía, subrayando la importancia del conflicto social en la construcción de la hegemonía mundial. La segunda parte presenta los resultados de una investigación sobre la competencia en-tre grandes corporaciones, tomando como base los datos presentados en la revista Fortune. Se muestran cuáles son las empresas más importantes y cuál es la situación de la competencia en actividades eje de la economía mundial. El ensayo considera como idea central que la creciente internacionalización de la actividad empresarial, factor esencial de la fortaleza de las empresas estadounidenses, es clave en la ex-plicación de las posiciones que ocupan tanto la economía de Estados Unidos como las grandes corporaciones que tienen su sede en ese país. Palabras clave: hegemonía, empresas transnacionales, competencia, internacionali-zación de la producción. Abstract This essay addresses two issues: the role of transnational corporations in the fight for world hegemony and the competition among the major companies in the world. The first part is devoted to the discussion about the hegemony, emphasizing the importance of social conflict in the construction of the global hegemony. The second part presents the results of a study on competition among large corporations , from data of Fortune magazine. Showing are which the most important companies and what is the state of competition in key economic activities worldwide.

The essay considers as central the idea that the growing internationalization of business, an essential factor in the strength of U.S. companies, is a key to explain the positions held by both the U.S. economy and the large corporations headquartered in that country.
Key words: hegemony, transnational corporations, competition, international production.
JEL: F21, F23, F59, L1

This study assesses the degree of internationalization of Chinese firms along the Belt and Road initiative countries. Most of the extant studies of the Belt and Road initiative have been qualitative, and where there have been quantitative studies, they have usually been at the aggregate level, and only a handful have used firm-level data to study initiative. Using a composite measure of the degree of internationalization, DOI BRI , that composed of variables capturing the performance, structural and attitudinal dimensions of internationalization, comparative analysis of State-owned enterprises and privately owned enterprises turned up counter-intuitive results. Firstly, given that state ownership could be positively associated with the degree of internationalization of firms and because of the significance of the Belt and Road initiative, we expected the State-owned enterprises to dominate the DOI BRI rank-ings. We assessed the firms, and contrary to expectations, privately owned firms had a higher average degree of internationalization. Furthermore, we expected both state-owned enterprises and privately-owned enterprises to have similar levels of psychic dispersion. However, state-owned enterprises were more psychically dispersed. Suggesting that along the belt and road countries, the advantages of state ownership of Chinese multinationals may be attenuated.

Several internationalization theories have been developed over the past few decades that have made great contributions in explaining enterprise internationalization and their mode of entry strategy. It has been suggested that the determinants of entry mode choice of enterprises from emerging and frontier markets differ from those of comparable enterprises from advanced economies. Literature review appears to indicate that there is a need to expand the framework for entry mode strategies to accommodate the expansion issues enterprises from emerging and frontier countries face in the global marketplace. Nevertheless, not much information and an acceptable conclusion have been made on how MNEs from frontier markets internationalize and what factors influence their choice of entry into those markets.
This study investigated the internationalization strategies of Lusophone Africa MNEs from Angola and Mozambique, more specifically their entry mode. Information was gathered through a survey of 29 MNE’s upper management respondents and subsequent face-to-face semi-structured interviews with 24 of them in their countries.
The results of this study suggest that most MNEs opted for equity-based investment strategies, mainly joint venture and M&E as their preferred mode of entry when internationalizing. A significant group of them opted for e-commerce/e-business strategies, and direct and indirect exports. A smaller portion of the interviewees chose Greenfield investment as a mode of entry. Many of these MNEs could be classified as born global/INV.
Finally, this study presents a conceptual framework for use in studying the entry mode choice of enterprises from Lusophone Africa frontier markets and presents research propositions for better understanding the determinants of entry mode strategies of enterprise from Angola and Mozambique.

Abstract Small and medium enterprise (SME) competitive advantage has been recognized as an important topic for researchers dealing with SME internationalization. Previous studies have long discussed the role of firm competitive advantage as a determinant of international performance, but there are few studies analyzing the determinants of firm competitive advantage and its potential mediating role in the relationship between organizational capabilities and SMEs' international performance. In this paper, we hypothesize four essential export capabilities (market intelligence, product innovation, pricing, and marketing communication) as determinants of competitive advantage for exporting SMEs. Based on a sample of 119 active exporting Malaysian SMEs and using partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modeling, the results revealed that three of the mentioned capabilities lead to competitive advantage. In addition, results indicated that competitive advantage only acts as a mediator between pricing capability and SMEs' international performance. The main conclusions of this investigation can be valuable to SMEs and startups that intend to explore or exploit opportunities in foreign markets.

Современная экономическая наука, анализирующая деятельность фирм на глобальных рынках, сталкивается с новы-ми вызовами – появлением нового типа глобальных компаний, механизм интерна-ционализации деятельности которых не укладывается в традиционные теорети-ческие модели международного бизнеса. В работе на основе сравнительного анализа прежде всего моделей интернализации и моделей поэтапной интернационализации международного бизнеса исследуется применимость данных традиционных под-ходов и отдельных их элементов к объяс-нению международной экспансии плат-форменных компаний. Результаты свиде-тельствуют, что традиционные подходы не могут полностью объяснить особенно-сти интернационализации такого нового типа глобальных компаний, как платфор-менные компании.

Modern economics analyzing compa-nies’ activities on global markets is facing new challenges — the emergence of the new type of global companies, their internationali-zation mechanizm not fitted in the traditional theoretical models of international business. This paper studies the applicability of tradi-tional approaches and their separate ele-ments to explaining international expansion of platform firms. The research is conducted on the basis of the comparative analysis of internalization models and models of the in-ternationalization (process) theory. The re-sults indicate that traditional approaches cannot fully explain the specifics of interna-tionalization of such a new type of global en-terprises as platform firms.

ABSTRACT
The internationalization of the firm: an analysis of a Brazilian eucalyptus pulp exporter in 2018 based on Uppsala and Bartlett & Ghoshal models
The present research had compared how Uppsala and Bartlett & Ghoshal (B&G) models explain the internationalization process of the Brazilian pulp producer Fibria.
The Uppsala model describes the developments of capabilities that enable the firm to move towards higher commitments abroad. Despite its sine-qua-non dependence on foreign markets, it is unlikely that Fibria will internationalize its production to another country, given the country-specific advantages that the company has in Brazil. Nevertheless, Fibria set its structure abroad even when the direct exports would suffice to reach the markets without any foreign direct investment.
B&G deals with the aspects of the organizational structure and described the Transnational type as the evolution of the international firm. In their typology, Fibria was a Global and Ethnocentric type, but interestingly, elements of Transnational and Geocentric models were also observed in the company.
Both theories overlap or complement each other in many aspects. However, they could not explain the peculiarities of the internationalization of Fibria. One reason is the lack of country-related elements in these models.
Eventually, comparisons between theories such as those presented enable decision-makers to align the corporate strategy using suitable models, bearing in mind the limitations that each method entails.

With rapid globalization, firm internationalization has become an important corporate strategy as well as the necessity for the survival and growth of the business. In the last decade, there has been a growth in literature that studies this field, especially in emerging countries. However, there exists a gap in the literature in CEE countries. This study aims to fill that gap by conducting an analysis and providing insight regarding the factors that lead to an increase in firm internationalization in this region. This research paper studies the main determinants that have an impact on the firm internationalization of large companies in CEE countries using panel data empirical methods, such as the random effect model and generalized method of moments (GMM) model for a panel of 50 firms from 11 CEE countries and a time duration of 14 years. This study determines the main factors that positively influence firm internationalization in selected countries. These countries have experienced...

Objective: to explore perceptions that stakeholders of Brazilian firms from the Creative Economy have regarding internationalization barriers.

Method: a multiple-case study was carried out involving three small- and medium-sized Brazilian enterprises (SMEs), all of them producers and experienced exporters of creative goods.

Main findings: internal barriers, mainly those functional- and price-related, are perceived as the most important, while product-related barriers seem to be irrelevant. Among external barriers, economic and governmental constraints seem to stand out, which indicates the need for some regulatory and export incentive improvement.

Relevance/ originality: while exports of creative goods from emerging economies have grown since the beginning of this century and even surpassed those from developed economies, Brazil has gone in the opposite direction, reducing its exports of this kind of goods. This suggests the existence of relevant barriers to the internationalization of local firms belonging to the Creative Economy. This study adds to the literature about export barriers, traditionally focused on large manufacturers from developed economies.

Theoretical/ methodological contributions: the identified preponderance of internal barriers to internationalization, mainly due to the scarcity of human and financial resources, also makes it harder for the firms to deal with external barriers imposed by governments and competitors. On the other hand, low product-related and socioeconomic barriers suggest that creative products are most valued precisely by their originality and differentiation.

... Organized Business Interests in Changing Environments. The Complexity of Adaptation. Jürgen R. Grote, Achim Lang and Volker Schneider (eds.) Palgrave Macmillan, November 2008. ... interest group research. All three of the editors (Jürgen Grote, Achim Lang and Volker ...

During the last few decades the environment of political systems in advanced industrial society has changed dramatically. Growing international expansion of economic transactions, in large part driven by a revolution in communication technologies, has led to an unprecedented degree of mobility in capital, goods, and services. It has also caused national polities to be increasingly dependent on political and economic processes that are beyond their immediate control. Although this did not lead to the end of the nation state as some alarmist accounts predicted, it undoubtedly resulted in a change within power structures and the division of labor in political systems. A growing strand of literature argues that control is increasingly being transferred to the international level and that private actors such as trade associations, multinational corporations, and social movements are gaining in importance within political processes. An important question is how this deep structural change has affected the political subsystem of interest intermediation based on interest associations, including the role and status of these organizations within the political system, as well as their general contribution to social and political order. Today interest organizations, and business associations in particular, are acknowledged as important components of political systems. This has not always been the case, since interest associations are quite peculiar objects of political research. Despite their continual increase in number and significance in almost all social areas – from the local up to the inter- and supranational level – these distinct forms of political organizations are still controversial in a normative sense, and analytically they only started to gain in importance during the final three or four decades of the twentieth century. Traditional political science concentrated on institutions such as governments, parliaments and parties. Other forms of interest representation such as business associations and social movements, on the other hand, entered the analytical spectrum in the second half of that century. Accordingly, only a few constitutions in the world explicitly recognize these groups as legitimate participants in the political process.

Companies have been internationalizing their activities since the second industrial revolution, however, that process verified at the beginning of the 20th century, can not be compared to the standards observed during the last decades. In addition to having intensified itself, its characteristics are very different, in response to a series of elements and resources made available to firms. Such change may be noted when looking at the internationalization process of firms in general, or when considering just one of these valued activities. This is because the many activities executed by the firm may be internationalized in different dimensions which will be determined according to a series of characteristics related to the firm itself, its industrial market, and the markets it serves.
Therefore this paper has the purpose to analyze the differences among the possible models of "internationalization" of one of these activities performed by the firm: research and development. To enable this, the process of "internationalization" will be considered as an answer to one strategy adopted and that determines the main characteristics of the tasks attributed to the internationally dispersed units. However, each firm will answer according to a series of determinant elements that may act as facilitators or obstacles to the process of "internationalization. In this scenario, a typology, for the ways in which firms internationalize their activity of research and development, will be presented. The main difference among them is the different levels of integration between the different branches and the head office reflect the historical changes observed in the process. This discussion is important for it will seek not only the differences among the possible models of internationalization concerning activities of research and development but also elements that indicate a trend among these models and the greater integration between the different units. In a final stage, jutting out the limits for applying these models and their widespread, mainly among developed and developing countries, such concepts will be applied in a study case of a Brazilian Research and Development unit of a German-owned firm that works in the auto-parts industry.

The internationalization of markets and the Europeanization of politics both have a number of implications for business and their associations in most of the EU Member States. While the size of firms has always been a dividing line within specific associations, this division is now becoming accentuated. This has to do with the differential salience the two major logics of organized collective action possess for both types of firms and their associations in a world of increasing complexity. The hypothesis raised in this contribution is as follows. Large firms are primarily challenged from the part of the LOGIC OF MEMBERSHIP. The INTERNATIONALIZATION OF MARKETS entails significant restructuring among larger companies. This often materializes in form of M&A activity, buy-outs and take-over and, subsequently, membership losses. Since dues paid by large firms represent a major source of income for business associations, organizational tasks located at the membership side of associative a...