Abstract
Nowadays the new trends firms follow in their internationalization process pose some limits to the application of the traditional International Business (IB) theories, and this chapter proposes a new theoretical framework based on the reinterpretation of the resource-based view. The necessity of a new framework derives from the limitation which makes traditional theories unable to interpret firms’ internationalization nowadays. It starts from a critical and constructive review of the main theories on the topic and proposes a model, which highlights and discusses four main determinants of internationalization: knowledge exploration, international leadership, protection of resources, and resource seeking.
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Notes
- 1.
Situations where demand is not met due to insufficient or even non-existent supply.
- 2.
“Born Global” approaches may also arise in small economies with a local market limited in size, like Latvia. In this regard, research by Sauka and Auza (2013) analysed four Latvian case studies: STENDERS, a producer of natural bath and cosmetics products; Munio Candela, a craft candle maker; Primekss, a producer of industrial floors; and Trousers London, a maker of premium jeans wear. The analysed companies’ common elements were a level of exporting amounting to approximately 70% of their total production, the absence of prior international commercial experience, the development of a design aimed at satisfying international markets, the choice of “green” marketing policies, and simultaneous entry into various markets in order to seize emerging opportunities.
- 3.
Stephen Hymer’s thesis (Hymer 1960), published in 1976, is considered the seminal work for the branch of studies on International Business.
- 4.
Transactional costs increase as the levels of limitation of the operators’ rationality rise, when dealing with small numbers, a non-neutral atmosphere, and information asymmetry; this is the case with the parent company’s technological and managerial resources, which can be hard to transfer abroad.
- 5.
It bears noting, however, that the followers’ ability to become the donors’ competitors depends on their ability to absorb new knowledge, and on their ability to develop autonomous learning processes.
- 6.
On the resource-based view (RBV), cf. the pioneering works of Penrose (1959), Wernerfelt (1984), Rumelt and Lamb (1984), Barney (1991); on the origins and implications for strategic management, see, among others, the works by Barney and Arikan (2001), Rugman Peng (2001), and Rugman and Verbeke (2002); a comprehensive review of the applications of the RBV may be found in Barney et al. (2001).
- 7.
Again with the intent of analysing the reasons leading a company to be located in a specific context, some authors (Makino et al. 2002; Sauka and Auza 2013) have taken up the classification proposed by March (1991) in the matter of organizational learning, distinguishing exploitation from exploration of knowledge.
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Calvelli, A., Cannavale, C. (2019). Determinants of Internationalization. In: Internationalizing Firms. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91551-7_1
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