The early internationalisation of service firms: a multi-case study

• Autor(a) principal: Souto, Leandro Gonçalves
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10773/39757
• topic: Internacionalização; Internacionalização rápida; International new venture (INV); Born global (BG); Estratégia de internacionalização; Estratégia

The research around Early Internationalisation has been growing over the years, but with a focus on manufacturing firms, to the detriment of the service sector. It is believed that the idiosyncratic characteristics of service firms affect differently their internationalisation process, while also requiring different strategic decisions. Therefore, this study intended to investigate the internationalisation process of Service Early Internationalisers (SEIs), first delving into the driver of early internationalisation, foreign market selection and entry mode. Taking into account that there are factors that can have a significant influence on the decisions and behaviour of such firms, these were also investigated to understand their impact, as well as the firms’ strategic directions towards success in early internationalisation. The methodology approach chosen was a qualitative, multi-case study, where six firms from distinct industries and at different stages in their lifetimes were interviewed and then examined. A within-case analysis and cross-case analysis was then conducted, followed by a discussion that put forward 14 propositions for theory building. It was found that the experience of the founders is a key driver of early internationalisation, and the firms demonstrated a proactive approach towards internationalisation. Client followership was identified as a prominent factor in foreign market selection, with low commitment entry modes being chosen as the first market entry. Considering the leveraging factors, the international and industry experience of the founders, recruitment of skilful and experienced individuals with market and industry knowledge, presence in networks, strategic alliances with MNEs, perceived trustworthiness, marketing, learning orientation, niche markets, and digitalisation, were found to significantly affect the position and strategy of SEI.