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The chapter addresses two research questions. Firstly, where does the line between the highly internationalised small and medium enterprises (SME) and micromultinationals (mMNE) lie? Secondly, what are the success factors and hindrances to the process of becoming an mMNE? How to internationalise being a small company and build prosperous relationships on the foreign and domestic market on the way to becoming mMNE?

The single company longitudinal case study of a furniture producer from Poland is analysed. Data for the case was collected using six detailed interviews.

Due to different networking possibilities, which are often based on long-term but not formalised cooperation, sometimes the line between the highly internationalised SME, formally using only exporting and the mMNE is very narrow. The analysis corroborates the former studies concerning factors of the successful establishment of mMNEs, drawing attention to the importance of entrepreneurship and networking. However strong embeddedness in domestic relationships may constitute, at the same time, a driver as well as a hindrance in the process described.

The case study examines in detail the process of becoming an mMNE which may be used for teaching purposes regarding new organisational forms in international business.

The paper aims to examine the locational determinants of the internationalization flows of high-tech start-ups. It also provides a picture of the current patterns of internationalization of high-tech start-ups, through a map of the most attractive countries in terms of inbound and outbound internationalization flows.

The empirical data have been obtained from a cross-country survey on internationalized high-tech start-ups operating in the ICT and electronics sectors. To explore the determinants of the intensity of internationalization flows of high-tech start-ups between a pair of countries, this study adopts a modified gravity model.

Results highlight that USA, UK and China are the most competitive countries in terms of inbound flows. This paper obtains evidence that internationalization flows of high-tech start-ups are motivated by the sourcing of host country locational advantages, identified by the strength of the legal and regulatory framework, the availability of VC financing, the innovation potential and the strength of IPR protection.

This paper adds to the international business literature in two ways. First, it provides a picture of the current patterns of internationalization for high-tech start-ups through a map of the most attractive countries in terms of inbound and outbound internationalization flows. Second, this research is an empirical attempt to understand the relationship between internationalization patterns of high-tech start-ups and attractiveness of host countries. To date, the authors are unaware of any other study that has examined the extent to which the internationalization flows of high-tech start-ups are affected by host country conditions in a cross-country context.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

This article develops a new conceptual model of knowledge flows within international service firms. Our model takes explicit account of the critical role of relationships and the individual as being central to the process of knowledge transfer for service firms. The model is then validated with data collected from five international service firms using critical event analysis techniques. The findings reinforce our contention that the individual plays a critical role in the process of knowledge transfer and that relationships form an integral part of this process. The implications of this finding are also discussed.

With the development of economic globalization and the growth of cross-border technology flow, the internationalization of innovation has become an important strategy for enterprises in global competition for both investment optimization and technological advancement. The purpose of this paper is to reveal the research evolution in internationalization of innovation, investigate the hot spot transformation, and predict the future research trends.

The main research approaches in this study are literature co-citation analysis and keyword co-occurrence analysis. Co-citation is applied as a semantic similarity measure for related papers that makes use of citation relationships. Co-occurrence frequency analysis of keywords is also carried out to reveal the hot spots in research of internationalization of innovation. With the data downloaded from Web of Science, Citespace was used as a tool of scientometrics to visualize the node papers, knowledge mapping and keyword co-occurrence ranking in different stages of research evolution. The literature being analyzed in this study come from paper collection by searching the titles, abstracts and keywords, for terms that include “international innovation”, “international R&D”, “international technology”, “globalizational innovation”, “globalizational R&D”, “globalizational technology”, “multinational innovation”, “multinational R&D” and “multinational technology”.

The investigation reveals that there are two distinct stages in research evolution of the internationalization of innovation. The direction of innovation diffusion has turned from “one-way trickle down from developed countries” to “two-way interaction between developed countries and emerging countries”. Meanwhile, the research hotspots have been transformed since 2000 from “detail and operation-focused” to “profound and strategy-focused”.

The paper gives an insight into the internationalization of innovation field using literature from the Web of Science as an illustration.

The purpose of this paper is to suggest that business group (BG) networks act as conduits for diffusion of information and resources pertaining to internationalization. It considers three types of BG networks arising from three different types of ties- director interlock, direct equity, and indirect equity. In particular, it examines the effects of cohesiveness of these BG networks on the diffusion of internationalization within a BG.

Drawing on social network perspective, it is hypothesized that, for each type of network, cohesiveness enhances within-BG similarity of the extent of internationalization. An empirical investigation is conducted on a sample of 55 Indian BGs for the period 2009-2013.

Results support all the three hypotheses, suggesting that higher level of cohesiveness leads to higher level of within-BG similarity of the extent of internationalization, for all three network types.

Findings of this study contribute to the BG literature by examining the effects of BG network cohesiveness on the diffusion of internationalization within a BG, for three types of BG networks.

American cultural influence is evident throughout the world to varying degrees. The purpose of this paper is to examine factors that influence the extent to which a particular country adopts elements of American culture. Factors related to information, ideas, technology, goods, and capital as well as cultural proximity are used to explain the degree of Americanization a country exhibits.

A conceptual framework is developed that looks at culture, Americanization and the related construct of internationalization. The extent of consumption of products related to American culture in a sample of 23 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries was examined. These included the number of McDonald's per capita, amount spent on US filmed entertainment, including television, and imports from the USA.

Cultural proximity to the USA was found to be associated with a greater degree of Americanization as evidenced by more McDonald's per capita and greater consumption of filmed entertainment from the USA. A country's openness to trade, as indicated by exports, foreign direct investment, and tourism, negatively influenced consumption of filmed entertainment. A country's progressiveness was weakly related to the number of McDonald's. None of the independent variables influenced imports from the USA.

The role of cultural proximity in fostering the adoption of products with cultural content suggests that it may be useful, along with other factors, in identifying attractive markets. Further, while this study focused on the spread of American culture, the fundamental process underlying the spread of other cultures should be similar.

The paper is unique in that it attempts to look analytically at surrogates of American influence in other countries, rather than rely on anecdotal accounts. It uses measures that may have broader applicability and lays the foundation for additional inquiries.

The Indian economy has experienced a boom in outward FDI (OFDI) in 2006. The study aims at exploring the factors that drive the boom in OFDI of Indian firms.

The participation of a firm in OFDI is a two-stage process -first, the decision to internationalization and second, how much to invest. We employ a two-stage model to decompose the effects on the decision to internationalization from effects on how much to invest. The two-stage model has the advantage of allowing us to estimate separately the probability of internationalization by a firm – Pr(OFDI > 0) – and the expected volume of investment, E(OFDI|OFDI > 0). The former is estimated by the probit model and the latter is estimated by the ordinary least square model.

The study finds that prior experience and institutional advantage can strongly drive the internationalization of Indian multinationals. The study also examines the relative importance of two aspects of prior knowledge – length of prior knowledge and depth of prior knowledge on OFDI of Indian firms. The study finds that the depth of prior knowledge is a must influential driver of OFDI in comparison to its length.

The present study is a novel attempt to investigate, ‘What drives the boom in OFDI from India?’

The purpose of this research is to describe and analyse the change process related to internationalisation among three internationalising Irish SMEs.

The authors employ a retrospective case study. The data were collected with face‐to‐face interviews with the founding CEOs.

The study indicates that the changes in SME internationalisation would be more multidimensional than assumed. The level of change due to internationalisation varies considerably and the different types of change are closely intertwined. However, the cases verified that the framework created is a well‐functioning tool for analysing such changes.

The study is an exploratory one, and the findings are based on three cases. Therefore the results can only be considered tentative. Additionally, the retrospective nature of the research design is challenging, as it puts weight on the respondents' memory and ability to identify change.

Based on the findings SMEs might be able to anticipate future changes in the environment and adapt to them. This could also be reflected in their strategic planning. Additionally, the information can be utilised in organising public support for internationalising SMEs.

In contrast to the mainstream research which focuses on the change process, the study examines the content of change, i.e. what actually changed in the company during internationalisation.