Analysis
Internationalizing the Small and Medium Sized Firm – four cases
In this chapter the empirical results presented in the previous chapter are analyzed and discussed. The authors have found important aspects within each of the more general viewpoints mentioned above; the individual, the organization and the environment. The authors have tried to find different patterns in the cases presented. Thereafter the authors have isolated the most important and interesting patterns for success and failure of the internationalization process. The patterns are then formulated into themes, which are presented and discussed in this chapter. The themes are in many cases closely linked to each other and factors important within one theme may as well be of high importance in some of the other themes. Therefore, many of the themes have aspects from more than one of the above mentioned viewpoints and consequently each theme is presented on its own.
Comparing to classical internationalization theory about large companies the empiric material illustrates in many ways the major differences between being an SME and a large company when internationalizing. Many of the characters normally attributed to SME’s such as limited resources and lack of international networks seem to have a significant impact on the internationalization process. The authors believe these different factors also have had an even stronger impact on the studied SME’s since these were also very young companies
