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Purpose – We examine the fundamental assumptions and features of the Uppsala model of internationalization and argue that we need to look beyond this model for studying internationalization processes in the multinational corporations (MNCs) of today. The purpose of our paper is to identify gaps and neglected issues regarding MNCs' internationalization processes that demand further theoretical and empirical study.

Methodology – Our approach is conceptual: based on the most cited model on internationalization, the Uppsala model, we approach the complex internationalization processes that continuously go on in modern MNCs. We use related bodies of literature, on MNC structure and strategy, headquarters–subsidiary relationships, MNC subsidiary strategy and development, and opportunity seeking and entrepreneurship, to fill in the gaps and develop the emerging research themes.

Findings – We identify the following three issues that need further investigation: the opportunity recognition process preceding internationalization processes in MNCs, the internationalization of multiple products within the confines of the growing MNC, and the internationalization of foreign MNC units.

Research limitations – In this paper, we open up new research fields, but do not offer empirical studies to inform us about these relevant issues. Future research should study these issues empirically, preferably through case study methodologies and/or with longitudinal designs.

Originality – The contribution of our paper is its identification of three research issues in relation to internationalization processes of modern MNCs, which we argue are neglected by contemporary research.

Understanding how and why firms behave differently during re-internationalization has increasingly been at a premium in international business research. The authors conducted a case study of 11 Chinese international small and medium-sized enterprise and explored how they learned and recovered from involuntary de-internationalization. From case data, the “complete” re-internationalizers learned the lessons of foreign market exits more proactively than “partial” re-internationalizers. The complete re-internationalizers adopted internal and external sources of knowledge acquisition, “middle-up-down” information distribution and ambivalent information interpretation, while the partial re-internationalizers relied on internal sources of knowledge, “top-down” or “bottom-up” information distribution and univalent information interpretation. This study contributes by identifying the crucial role of learning processes to complete re-internationalization, which is absent in existing re-internationalization research.

The study this chapter reports focuses on how network theory contributes to the understanding of the internationalization process of SMEs and measures the effect of network capability on performance in international trade and has three research objectives.

The first objective of the study relates to providing new insights into the international market development activities through the application of a network perspective. The chapter reviews the international business literature to ascertain the development of thought, the research gaps, and the shortcomings. This review shows that the network perspective is a useful and popular theoretical domain that researchers can use to understand international activities, particularly of small, high technology, resource-constrained firms.

The second research objective is to gain a deeper understanding of network capability. This chapter presents a model for the impact of network capability on international performance by building on the emerging literature on the dynamic capabilities view of the firm. The model conceptualizes network capability in terms of network characteristics, network operation, and network resources. Network characteristics comprise strong and weak ties (operationalized as foreign-market entry modes), relational capability, and the level of trust between partners. Network operation focuses on network initiation, network coordination, and network learning capabilities. Network resources comprise network human-capital resources, synergy-sensitive resources (resource combinations within the network), and information sharing within the network.

The third research objective is to determine the impact of networking capability on the international performance of SMEs. The study analyzes 11 hypotheses through structural equations modeling using LISREL. The hypotheses relate to strong and weak ties, the relative strength of strong ties over weak ties, and each of the eight remaining constructs of networking capability in the study. The research conducts a cross-sectional study by using a sample of SMEs drawn from the telecommunications industry in Ireland.

The study supports the hypothesis that strong ties are more influential on international performance than weak ties. Similarly, network coordination and human-capital resources have a positive and significant association with international performance. Strong ties, weak ties, trust, network initiation, synergy-sensitive resources, relational capability, network learning, and information sharing do not have a significant association with international performance. The results of this study are strong (R2=0.63 for performance as the outcome) and provide a number of interesting insights into the relations between collaboration or networking capability and performance.

This study provides managers and policy makers with an improved understanding of the contingent effects of networks to highlight situations where networks might have limited, zero, or even negative effects on business outcomes. The study cautions against the tendency to interpret networks as universally beneficial to business development and performance outcomes.

Management, over time, takes a series of specific strategic actions. As strategic actions we define actions aimed at influencing how the actor is related to other actors. We propose that when a strategic action is committed affects the outcome of the action. An important reason for this is that strategic actions over time can be regarded as interdependent sequences of actions. Timing and sequences may be more or less – or is not at all – preplanned by an actor. In a network perspective a focal actor is dependent on other actors that commit strategic actions. This creates interdependencies that vary over time, which a focal actor influences in a proactive, interactive and/or reactive way. The timing of strategic actions is a general, quite complex and elusive phenomenon to be handled in practice and theory. Despite its importance, very little research has been published.

To investigate a firm's propensity to continue internationalization, the so-called Uppsala internationalization process model is a logical point of departure (Johanson & Vahlne, 1977, 1990). Building upon a behavioral theory of the firm (Cyert & March, 1963) and Penrose's (1959) theory of the growth of the firm, the basic logic of the Uppsala or U-model is quite straightforward: The allocation of resources to foreign activities holds a certain risk yet induces experiential learning, which results in market-specific knowledge. The increasing stock of market-specific knowledge reduces this risk and stimulates additional allocation of resources (Eriksson, Johanson, Majkgård, & Sharma, 1997).

Purpose – The study examines the roles of external facilitation in the internationalization process of high-tech firms.

Methodology/approach – The study elaborates on the roles of external facilitation through a case study of two small high-tech firms that took part in a partly governmentally financed facilitation program.

Findings – The study illustrates the internationalization of a high-tech firm as a process that includes actions of both the facilitating actors and the high-tech firm. It defines the primary roles of external facilitation over the facilitated internationalization process of firms.

Research limitations/implications – The internationalization was followed only during the time that the firms participated in a facilitation program. The external facilitation under study is of a program type; therefore the process followed is not a spontaneous one but the facilitation has certain planned phases. Future research should be conducted on the entire internationalization processes of these firms and on the utilization of various types of external facilitation.

Practical implications – The study shows how high-tech firms can benefit from external facilitation in their internationalization. It gives insight into how the type of the company and its background are related to the roles of external facilitation.

Originality/value – The study extends the existing research on the internationalization of small high-tech firms by focusing on the roles of external facilitation in their internationalization. There are numerous institutions and actors who aim to facilitate the internationalization of small firms, but there is a limited amount of research on the roles of these facilitators.

This chapter explores the strategic motives behind the decision of hotels to internationalize. It approaches the subject from the perspective of the soft-service sector and aims to develop an understanding of this phenomenon. The literature covers several different factors that stimulate the decision to expand operations abroad. The process requires a trigger that will initiate the process and control the assignment until completion. Eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with international hotel chains to develop an understanding of the process. The findings reveal factors that can be distinguished between proactive and reactive and also be categorized under the four major motives behind internationalization: seeking natural resources, markets, efficiency and strategic assets or capabilities. The international strategy of hotel chains provides a roadmap for expansion and often acts as a trigger. The findings also reveal the significant role of vice presidents (VPs) of international development, development directors, agents and networks in initiating the process of internationalization and stimulating the chains towards specific parts of the world. One of the main differences between manufacturing and soft services is the wide variety of entry modes that are at the disposal of services. The findings are consistent with the literature published and provide an insight into the initial steps towards internationalization by hotel chains, in the post-COVID era.

Research question: What are the strategic motives behind the decision of hotels to internationalize?

The accelerating past globalisation had pressurised various types of enterprises, including state-owned enterprises (SOEs), to adopt appropriate decision-making approaches for their internationalisation strategies. The present book chapter illustrates the role that an entrepreneurial approach played in the decision-making process about the international expansion of an incumbent and large, SOE after its initial internationalisation. The case of a formerly state-owned telecommunication enterprise from Scandinavia will be explored that highlights aspects of entrepreneurial decision-making, internal organisational changes, and the influence of individual managers within the executive management team which influenced the process of internal decision-making. The empirical chapter makes important contributions to notably the practice of entrepreneurial decision-making for internationalisation; it unveils the complexities of internal decision-making processes, including the struggles between individual managers, and thereby provides a better understanding for management practitioners about decision-making for competitiveness and growth during the internationalisation of large, yet inexperienced enterprises.

This chapter examines the specific role of strategic communication as a facilitator for business internationalization. It provides a new and comprehensive rationale for explaining the contribution of strategic communication to the global success of companies and shows communication leaders how they could demonstrate the value of communication for internationalization.

The chapter identifies an important contribution of strategic communication in today’s globalized world, which demands further attention in academia and in practice by addressing three research questions: (1) How can strategic communication be conceptualized as part of the internationalization of firms? (2) Which specific objectives, responsibilities and practices can be assigned to strategic communication within the process of internationalization? (3) Does the theoretical framework capture the significant components of strategic communication within internationalization, appropriately from the point of view of senior experts in the field?

The chosen approach is conceptual and empirical. A cross-disciplinary literature analysis has been performed to construct a framework that links possible forms and manifestations of strategic communication to different situations of international business development. Qualitative interviews with senior communication executives were conducted to verify the plausibility of the theoretical framework from a professional point of view. The study identifies four core fields of strategic communication within the internationalization processes: initiation, transformation, expansion and integration. Communication should be implemented differently within the typical periods of internationalization, and communication management should focus on different aspects during these processes. Empirical findings indicate that the core fields depicted in the framework are either already applied in practice or perceived as plausible and doable.

From a theoretical standpoint, this study emphasizes the value of a cross-disciplinary perspective on corporate communications, which helps to bridge gaps between management research and communication studies. The study expands the body of knowledge in strategic communication by integrating new objectives and activities.

Business networks are of critical importance to firms and essential to the internationalisation of born-global and international new venture firms. Networking literature focuses on what are, generally, co-operative relationships and their effects between actors, activities and resources and illustrate the importance of quality and change in the networking process. Utilising Fletcher and Harris’ (2012) framework for understanding knowledge acquisition processes in internationalisation, this study investigates the importance of direct and indirect roles played by third parties in the networking for internationalisation processes of three different firm types within the knowledge-based natural health products (NHPs) (pharmaceutical) sector in Canada. The research presented here examines nine case studies of Canadian NHP firms and reveals that they utilised all network-related internationalisation processes simultaneously to internationalise including Johanson and Mattsson’s (1988, 1994) network theory, Johanson and Vahlne’s (2003) updated the Uppsala Model and the resource-based perspective on network theory (Ruzzier et al., 2006). They networked with and extensively utilised third parties, including government bodies, trade associations, government advisors, consultants and other domestic networks with international ties, in Canada and internationally to gain technical, market and internationalisation knowledge, and direct and indirect experiential knowledge which contributed to the internationalisation process confirming the study by Fletcher and Harris (2012). In a departure from the literature, this study found that weak ties (Granovetter, 1973) developed with third parties who were new to the networks allowed the NHP firms to develop competitive advantages necessary for them to overcome the liability of outsidership in entering new international markets. The type of technical, market and internationalisation knowledge gained, its content and the direct and indirect sources of knowledge from third parties were all shown to contribute to the internationalisation process.