Taking services to foreign markets: A taxonomy of Brazilian service firms

Abstract

This study develops a taxonomy of international service firms from an emerging market, Brazil, and assesses whether there are significant differences in international performance between the groups. After an extensive literature review, a survey was carried out with a sample of international service firms located in an emerging economy, Brazil.Using as a departure point two theoretical perspectives, the internationalization process theory and industrial organization theory, in addition to service dimensions extracted from the empirical service management literature, the study identifies four groups-large traditionals, generalist neophytes, solitary traditionals, and daring differentiators-based on firm characteristics, international services delivered, internationalization process characteristics, and international strategies adopted. The findings suggest that there are significant differences in performance between the groups. K E Y W O R D Sinternationalization of services, service firms, taxonomy