Internationalization as Interaction: A Process Perspective on Internationalization from a Small Developing Country

Abstract

Despite their heavy dependence on international markets, small developing countries or small states have been underrepresented in the internationalization literature. Unlike developed or large developing countries, small states face dual constraints of relatively weak institutions and a narrow resource base along with an open market environment. A changing domestic environment in small states requires firms to adapt and a process approach was employed in order to examine sustained internationalization firms from Trinidad and Tobago (TT). Analysis of the findings indicates that changing economic circumstances result in varying domestic production and market resource availability. In response, firms from small states may engage in phased rather than staged patterns of activity that include accelerated, reverse, and inward internationalization. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

What is beneficial for first-time SME-exporters from a transition economy: A diversified or a focused export-strategy?

“…Current policy prescriptions often focus on the creation of property-based resources in the form of patents and technical skills (Williams, Ridgman, Shi, & Ferdinand, 2014). This perspective assumes that companies build a resource combination from local resources that enable internationalization.…”

Using the “best‐fit” approach to investigate the effects of politico‐economic and social barriers on SMEs' internationalization in an emerging country context: Implications and future directions

“…Some of the theoretical recommendations highlight the benefits to “organic” networks of social and business relationships (Fletcher & Prashantham, ) in facilitating SMEs' internationalization activities or the contributions made by young managers (Paul & Shrivatava, ). However, we still do not know the extent to which the factors that determine the movement of goods and services (Williams, Ridgman, Shi, & Ferdinand, ) are measured and what their implications on the economic benefits and barriers are (Buckley & Ghauri, ). Often, the fast “pace of globalization” (Ghauri, Wang, Elg, & Rosendo‐Ríos, ) and the growing influence of technology (Stone, Deadrick, Kimberly, & Lukaszewski, ) are considered as separate from other “market drivers” (Jaworski, Kohli, & Sahay, ; Zoogah & Mburu, ) thereby questioning SMEs' internationalization legitimacy (Saridakis, Yanqing, & Cooper, ).…”

Application of human resource management's universal model: An examination of people versus institutions as barriers of internationalization for SMEs in a small developing country

“…and second, they have registered positively significant effects “on developing national economies” (Steinerowska‐Streb & Steiner, , p. 375). Despite their important contributions to small developing countries, such as Bangladesh's garment industry's heavy reliance on the international market, these economies are underrepresented in the international literature (N. L. Williams, Ridgman, Shi, & Ferdinand, ). This calls for further developments, which have partly triggered the growing attention on the entrepreneurship activities of SMEs from an emerging country perspective.…”