Patterns in international ICT entrepreneurship: Mexico’s case

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the antecedents of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) internationalization for a small set of Mexican ICT entrepreneurial firms, connected with subsectoral positions in a smile-shaped curve. Such antecedents constitute exploratory patterns related to simplified internationalization characteristics in terms of market choice, founder background and aspatial affiliations, providing a complementary technique to identify elements that shape SME internationalization in Latin America. Design/methodology/approach A value-added “smiling” curve is sketched according to North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) industry classification, mapping a non-probabilistic purposive sample of Mexican SMEs. The csQCA has been applied to the sample based on secondary data. Mexico’s ICT export behavior is also analyzed. Findings Internationalized SMEs in the sample tend to group in patterns that approach higher value-added positions in the “smiling” curve, exemplifying a type of non-geographic clustering. Particular groups seem to precede market selection (North America vs Latin America). The founder’s background does not determine internationalization choices. The sample included counterexamples (new entrants, limited cases involving research and development activities), which when analyzed suggest relevant literature validations. Originality/value This research contextualizes sectoral SME internationalization from a Latin American perspective, identifying simple patterns around particular ICT subsectors. It focuses on a type of international entrepreneurship that becomes exceptional in developing regions: technology-oriented. csQCA is presented as a preliminary (exploratory) technique to draw alternative theoretical frameworks for SME internationalization, specifically, market selection and aspatial cluster behavior around value-added chains, leading to new theoretical perspectives in SME internationalization.

Internacionalización de empresas latinas: evolución y tendencias

“…En el compendio del material bibliográfico de esta perspectiva, se abordan los diferentes modelos y factores de internacionalización presentados en pymes y unidades de emprendimiento, las cuales en etapas tempranas incursionan en mercados exteriores a un ritmo más acelerado; a partir de estudios con fundamentación teórica relacionada con procesos de internacionalización en articulación con casos de estudios con empresas principalmente de Brasil (De Farias, Nataraajan & Kovacs, 2009;Da rocha, Cotta, Pacheco & De Abreu, 2012), México (Fernández-Moya, 2012Larios, 2018;Martin & Javalgi, 2016) y Chile (Felzensztein et al, 2015).…”

Guest editorial

“…Joining ongoing discussions within the same research streams makes the dissemination of their findings easier and hopefully contributes to an increase in the level of citations. The majority of the articles are concerned with internationalization influences researching the impact of the industry, knowledge, and the institutional environment on internationalization (Larios-Hernandez, 2018; Pino Soto, 2018; Torkkeli and Fuerst, 2018), others take on a network perspective to study the internationalization outcome (Brache, 2018; Baier-Fuentes et al , 2018), while one article is concerned with the dynamics of internationalization researching the factors promoting a continued export process over time (Etchebarne and Torres, 2018). Third, publishing the articles in English and through Academia Revista Latinoamericana de Administración which is indexed and ranked by the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) (Clarivate Analytics) and Scopus, we hope the articles presented within the special issue reach a wider audience on a more global scale which equally contributes to a better dissemination of the research results stemming from Latin America.…”

“…Research on the role of the industry for internationalization puts emphasis on the structure of the industry (Bloodgood et al , 1996; Evers, 2010), the life-cycle of the industry (Dean and Meyer, 1996), the knowledge intensity of the product such as high-technology industries, and industry clustering (Fernhaber et al , 2007). Larios-Hernandez (2018) in this special issue adds an additional dimension to this particular area of research, namely, the role of the position of the SME in the information and communication technology (ICT) value chain and its influence on the firm’s market choice for internationalization. The author argues that SMEs located on both sides, closer to the extreme ends of the smiling curve, add a higher value to their product offer and find better opportunities in international markets compared to firms located in the lower parts of the smiling curve.…”

“…Whereas Larios-Hernandez (2018) focuses on the influence of industry on internationalization, Pino Soto (2018) examine knowledge influences and their role for internationalization. Knowledge is an important predictor for early and rapid internationalization (Jones et al , 2011).…”

An analysis of factors that influence the decision to export: perspective of Brazilian companies

“…Today, the expansion of international markets and globalisation presents an opportunity for the development of all types of companies in all countries (Ogliastri and Quintanilla, 2016). Internationalisation offers companies an opportunity to grow, more potential to acquire knowledge, access to new resources abroad and the possibility of increasing profits from their investments in the long term (Larios Hernandez, 2018). Studies, such as that of Demirhan (2016), have verified a two-way causal relationship between export activity and company performance.…”