Concluding remarks and directions for further research

Abstract

This study has explored internationalization in high-technology emerging industries. Four cases from the emerging biotechnology and multimedia industries were described in detail in the context of their respective industrial environments. These rich descriptions demonstrated how internationalization phenomena develop and how internationalization decisions are made at the level of the individual firm. Within-case and cross-case analyses were performed and additional ‘mini-cases’ were added to substantiate the analyses. By using the methodological procedures of comparative case-study research the study succeeded in identifying several common patterns concerning the motives, forms, and sequences of internationalization in the biotechnology and multimedia industries. These patterns were then assembled to form a set of tentative casebased hypotheses. This set of tentative hypotheses represented the closure of the case chapter.