Infant Multinationals: Internationalisation of Small Technology-Based Firms

Maria Lindqvist

Chapter 10 in Technology, Innovation and Enterprise, 1997, pp 303-324 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract During the last few years, the relatively few large multinational corporations dominating Swedish industry have, whilst increasing their international activities, dramatically reduced domestic employment within their organisations. As a result, there has been a focus by policy-makers on the development of small technology-based firms, mainly because it is frequently argued that such firms have an important role in creating opportunities for new employment and stimulating industrial growth. However, since opportunities in a small home market are limited to niche-oriented, technology-based firms, Swedish firms have traditionally been forced to direct their activities abroad at a relatively early stage (Carlson, 1975). This trend is perhaps even more important today, with the globalisation of markets and an increased speed and complexity of technology development. At the same time, small firms are particularly dependent upon their home market, since the time and resources required for successful international activities — such as access to managerial competence and extensive funds — are limited. Consequently, the process of internationalisation may be complicated for small firms and many may favour a more localised growth strategy.

Keywords: Foreign Market; Foreign Subsidiary; Local Representative; Export Share; Internationalisation Behaviour (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1997
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

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:pal:palchp:978-1-349-25770-6_10

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9781349257706

DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-25770-6_10

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Palgrave Macmillan Books from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().