Internationalization of Large Companies from Central and Eastern Europe or the Birth of New Stars

Arjona Çela, Eglantina Hysa, Marian Catalin Voica, Mirela Panait and Otilia Manta
Additional contact information
Arjona Çela: Department of Economics, Epoka University, 1000 Tirana, Albania
Marian Catalin Voica: Department of Cybernetics, Economic Informatics, Finance and Accounting, Petroleum-Gas University of Ploiești, 100680 Ploiești, Romania
Mirela Panait: Department of Cybernetics, Economic Informatics, Finance and Accounting, Petroleum-Gas University of Ploiești, 100680 Ploiești, Romania

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-19

Abstract: 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 a radical transition from centrally planned economies to market economies, and although they have experienced economic growth and a rise in productivity, they are still facing several challenges. Therefore, it is important to know what facilitates and helps firms to expand in international markets. The main findings derived from this study show that firm characteristics, such as age, size and corporate performance, have a positive effect on the internationalization process. An increase in age, size and firm performance leads to higher levels of internationalization. Larger and relatively older firms have access to more resources and are more experienced in dealing with the environmental difficulties characteristic of these countries.

Keywords: firm internationalization; international business; CEE countries; GMM model; random effect model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/1/261/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/1/261/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2021:i:1:p:261-:d:712113

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().