Internationalization stages of traditional SMEs: Increasing, decreasing and re-increasing commitment to foreign markets

Noémie Dominguez () and Ulrike Mayrhofer ()
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Noémie Dominguez: MAGELLAN - Laboratoire de Recherche Magellan - UJML - Université Jean Moulin - Lyon 3 - Université de Lyon - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises (IAE) - Lyon
Ulrike Mayrhofer: MAGELLAN - Laboratoire de Recherche Magellan - UJML - Université Jean Moulin - Lyon 3 - Université de Lyon - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises (IAE) - Lyon

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Abstract: SMEs attempt to accelerate and diversify their international expansion strategies. The purpose of this article is to identify the internationalization stages followed by traditional SMEs to seize global market opportunities. The authors analyze the internationalization paths of five French SMEs operating in traditional manufacturing industries. The empirical study is mainly based on 66 interviews. The findings indicate that the internationalization process of SMEs continues to follow several stages, but that their commitment to foreign markets may increase, decrease and re-increase. The identified stages, which can be triggered by internal and external factors, reflect characteristics of different internationalization models proposed in the literature.

Keywords: Internationalization stages; de-internationalization; re-internationalization; SMEs; Uppsala model; born globals. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (45)

Published in International Business Review, 2017, Vol. 26 (N° 6), p. 1051-1063

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01599209

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