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The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the internationalizing firm accumulates knowledge from different domains throughout time, during entry and post-entry moves in a foreign market. This paper focuses on market, institutional, internationalization and technological knowledge.

The paper uses a comparative case study method, relying on three longitudinal cases of multinational firms' (MNEs) internationalization processes, particularly concerning MNEs' entry and post-entry moves in one foreign market (Brazil).

Throughout the internationalization processes, the internationalizing firms unevenly developed experiential knowledge within Brazil. As a result, the market, internationalization, institutional and technological knowledge followed different accumulation patterns, distinguished based on precedence, simultaneity and speed. More specifically, (1) the market and institutional knowledge trajectories evolved simultaneously; (2) the market knowledge trajectory preceded that of technological knowledge and (3) the accumulation of internationalization knowledge happened faster than that of the market, institutional and technological knowledge.

This paper shows how knowledge accumulation in internationalization processes varies throughout time and according to the type of knowledge involved. While most of the literature relies on cross-sectional studies that discount the changing nature of knowledge, this paper shows that the internationalizing firm accumulates market, internationalization, institutional and technological knowledge following three temporal dimensions: precedence, simultaneity and speed.

Recent empirical findings on the relationship between internationalization and firm performance (I–P) suggest a significant role of firm's context. Extending this line of argument, the authors study the effect of internationalization on firm's performance for emerging market firms from knowledge-intensive industries, taking into account the firm's motive of internationalization and host country’s location-based advantages.

The authors link host country-specific advantages (CSAs) with firm-specific advantages (FSAs) to identify three distinct settings of internationalization for emerging economy firms – (1) asset-exploitative internationalization in developing or least developed countries, (2) asset-exploitative internationalization in developed countries and (3) strategic asset-seeking internationalization. The authors test this study’s hypotheses on a sample of 415 Indian firms from knowledge-intensive industries.

The authors find that firm's performance upon internationalization is non-linear in each of the three different settings. The nature of the non-linear relationship depends upon location-based advantages of the host country and the motive of internationalization.

The motive of internationalization and the location-based advantages sought during internationalization are unique for emerging economy firms. Hence, the study extends understanding of the I–P linkage in an emerging economy context.

Rarely have studies on the acquisition of knowledge in internationalisation focused on institutional knowledge. The purpose of this paper is, therefore, to investigate the acquisition of this knowledge, and its assimilation and exploitation processes in internationalisation.

The paper utilises ten longitudinal revelatory case studies built from multiple semi-structured interviews conducted with three different firm types of small- and medium-sized enterprise (SMEs) in the pharmaceutical industry and secondary documents to which the researchers obtained proprietary access.

The study enhances the conceptual understanding of the institutional learning process in internationalisation by, for the first time, developing a framework to characterise this process. The study explores and identifies multiple types of institutional knowledge required, the sequencing of their acquisition, sources and learning methods utilised. It also discusses transferability of this learning across foreign markets and firms’ absorptive capacity for that knowledge. Regulatory-specific product knowledge, found to be the most important type required, appeared to affect significantly both market selection and mode of entry, and when acquired insufficiently, prevented internationalisation.

While the sample size is relatively small, and sector-specific, the findings were consistent across all the SME firms and firm types. They may also be generalisable to other sectors, firm sizes such as MNEs and types, particularly those which are knowledge-based or highly regulated, given that similar institutional knowledge and processes of acquisition are necessary for firms of all sizes in internationalisation.

International marketing managers will gain valuable insights, based on a framework proven to propel firms to successful internationalisation, upon how to plan, organise, manage and match their institutional knowledge-seeking and learning activities with their firms’ internal capabilities, staffing and other resources in an effective and timely manner.

This study contributes to the conceptual understanding of the institutional knowledge learning process in the internationalisation.

Building upon the insights of the resource-based view and internationalization theories, the purpose of this paper is to examine the role networks play in SMEs' readiness for internationalization. By investigating three different types of knowledge sharing, namely economic-setting, market-specific and customer-specific, the study analyzes their effect on SMEs' readiness for internationalization.

The four research hypotheses derived by from the analysis of the literature have been investigated by applying the multiple regression technique. By means of an online survey, 300 valid questionnaires were collected and information from a sample of Italian SMEs belonging to 11 agro-food consortia have been analyzed.

The results suggest that SMEs' readiness for internationalization could be supported by sharing customer-specific, market-specific and economic-setting knowledge with other firms operating within the same agro-food consortium. Additionally, data analysis highlights a negative relation between the risk perception in the process and readiness for internationalization, suggesting the importance of knowledge sharing in reducing the criticality issues of being a newcomer entering international markets.

From a theoretical perspective, this study aims to fill the gap in knowledge management and international relationship marketing literature. Since proposes a combination of different kinds of knowledge that contribute to reducing the criticalities SMEs must face by identifying useful information to be conveyed within the network. From a managerial perspective, the study provides useful insights for the agro-food sector, highlighting how experiential and network knowledge constitutes a pre-condition for managing internationalization complexity and discovering opportunities on foreign markets.

Despite the increasing number of small and medium enterprises pursuing international opportunities and penetrating global markets, international entrepreneurship literature has paid limited attention to emerging markets and entrepreneur-specific factors that influence internationalisation. Traditional internationalisation theories and international entrepreneurship theories consider organisation as the unit of analysis and lack sensitivity to the context, which influences ventures’ foreign market decisions. Moreover, only a handful of studies related to internationalisation in emerging markets are available. To address this gap, this chapter explores barriers and drivers for SMEs’ internationalisation in Sri Lanka, an emerging market. Semi-structured interviews with forty Sri Lankan youth entrepreneurs suggest structural barriers consisting of access to capital, legal restrictions and lack of legal, institutional and government support were prominent. These barriers suggest a need for policy changes in the entrepreneurial environment, finance, entrepreneurial culture and skill development, technology, research and development and regional balance. The findings also indicate that information communication technology is a driver for internationalisation.

International businesses play a significant role in the growth, innovation and survival of technology-based firms (TBFs). Creating new opportunities in international markets, using communication networks and confronting constraints on available resources have distinguished the internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and intensified the importance of knowledge acquisition and continuous learning. This study aimed to (1) configure (the types and sources of) and (2) measure the internationalization knowledge of TBFs, by focusing on a knowledge-intensive part of the health industry in an emerging country: Iranian advanced medical equipment companies.

For this purpose, a qualitative approach was adopted to interview the leaders of eight TBFs exporting medical equipment. Obtained data were investigated using content analysis.

According to the content analysis results for configuration, technological knowledge and market knowledge were mainly obtained through direct experience and vicarious learning; however, internationalization knowledge is not so established as the third major knowledge area to integrate technological with market knowledge in line with corporate strategies of an internationalizing firm. For measurement of knowledge assets of internationalizing firms as a prerequisite for continuous improvement, several intellectual capital indices were extracted, including human, structural and relational capital.

This research complements existing literature in internationalization knowledge configuration via deploying an "Intellectual capital" perspective. It could enhance efforts for improving the learning of internationalizing SMEs, especially in the developing countries.

The purpose of this research is to focus on the internationalisation process and experiences of Korean theatre companies. Factors investigated include cultural issues impinging on production values and the roles of entrepreneurial thinking and creativity. An analysis of impacting barriers on performing arts internationalisation is also carried out.

A case study approach was used to investigate the performance and internationalisation activities of five Korean theatre companies that participated in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

The exporting of Korean cultural products contributes markedly to the perception and understanding of Korea. Small theatre companies with a tolerance of risk‐taking, together with competencies in creativity and entrepreneurial thinking, can help to minimise the effect of unforeseen problems experienced during the internationalisation of theatre productions.

The in‐depth case study approach adopted here has resulted in the uncovering of data that would not have been unveiled through questionnaire analysis alone. The findings can, however, contribute to future large‐scale surveys of the arts industry.

The issues identified in this study are also relevant for other forms of internationalising artistic productions. The successful combination of artistic ability and the implementation of entrepreneurial competencies, together with the creative use of limited resources, serve as competitive advantages for the arts organisation.

This research promotes a cross‐disciplinary approach to arts marketing in general by encouraging the interrogation of fields such as entrepreneurship, small business marketing and internationalisation research.

This paper aims to integrate the concepts of the internationalization process and relationship marketing (RM). It identifies two stages for internationalization (pre-internationalization and post-internationalization) and assigns RM components for each step.

The study undertakes a review and synthesis of the extant literature examining internationalization and RM. It then identifies two stages of the internationalization process and its steps, associated with RM components.

The study highlights that each step in the internationalization process requires appropriate RM component to be implemented successfully.

Findings of this study highlight the importance of managing internationalization for firms intending to enter to foreign market and identify the issues that need to be understood, if firms are to effectively manage their internationalization strategy.

The paper is the first to integrate the concepts of internationalization and RM and to identify the factors that make managing these two types of firm's strategy.

The internationalisation of small‐ to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) is considered in the context of the overall configuration of strategy in these firms. This paper is based on in‐depth case studies of the internationalisation path of ten small‐ to medium‐sized manufacturing firms in New Zealand. Two distinct paths are identified, one of global, the other of regional scope. These are argued to be the product of two distinct configurations of strategy, requiring different choices in product and market scope, mode of market development, and location of manufacturing. The patterns of internationalisation produced by these configurations are in some respects at variance with the predictions of stages models of internationalisation derived from larger enterprises and economies. The influence of these configurations and the characteristics of SMEs in particular those of the decision maker on the pace of internationalisation are also considered. A conceptual model is developed from the findings of this study by integrating internationalisation theories and SME characteristics.

The purpose of this study is to provide a foundational understanding of the internationalization of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in the context of renewable energy markets. The focus is on exploring and identifying the managerial-, firm- and environmental-level antecedents to their international expansion, which also furthers the understanding of the distinct SME’s internationalization context within the renewable energy market.

The study adopts a qualitative multiple case study approach in a Finnish SME context and identifies the antecedents’ relative prominence at the managerial, firm and environmental levels.

The findings indicate that, although internationalization antecedents of renewable energy SMEs differ owing to market forces such as trends, networks and changing regulatory policies, they share antecedents similar to those of SMEs in other industries.

The main limitation of this study is its single-country home market empirical context. Future studies should expand analysis to different regulatory and regional environments.

To the authors’ knowledge, there are few studies that explore the antecedents of SMEs’ internationalization, especially in the renewable energy market context. Hence, this study contributes to the international business and entrepreneurship literature by illustrating the fundamental managerial-, firm- and environmental-level antecedents to the internationalization of SMEs operating in the renewable energy business. In addition, it highlights the peculiarities of renewable energy SMEs’ internationalization, suggesting that extant research on SMEs’ internationalization has not adequately captured the intricacies present in the internationalization of renewable energy enterprises.