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The need for retailers to internationalize is a growing reality in developed markets. Research examining problems in this process argues that the barriers to internationalization should be studied based on the situation in each country, and that public organizations which implement policies to support internationalization do not always adapt to company needs. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the limited existing research on the subject of Spanish retail internationalization, analysing the problems faced by SMEs and the role of public support organizations in helping them.

By means of in-depth interviews with experts, the authors first, analysed the barriers faced by Spanish retailers in their internationalization processes, and found a predominance of endogenous as opposed to exogenous barriers. Second, the authors studied the appropriateness of support policies for retail needs and identified a significant mismatch.

Results show that the current international economic climate and restricted access to financing, combined with the small size of retailers, their lack of experience in internationalization processes, and the potential that still remains in the local market, are an inducement not to venture into other markets. Additionally, there is a lack of awareness on the part of public organizations about the reality and needs of the retail sector. In addition, the study of retail internationalization as a discipline seems to be in constant flux.

It would be pertinent to consider the findings in the light of a number of limitations of the study. The sample did not consist of retailers but its representatives. The reliance upon a single nation sample could also be viewed as a limitation.

The authors provide Spanish retailers with ideas about the problems they are facing which they will find useful as a starting point for strategic thinking about their internationalization prospects.

As for Spanish promotion organizations, they should consider the results of this research and further study the needs of retailers in their internationalization processes while also identifying which companies have the greatest potential for operating in foreign markets.

It is the first time a research for Spain is conducted that highlights the needs of developing a plan to support the internationalization of the retail sector and provide specific lines of action.

Uppsala internationalisation theory is highly utilised due to its simplicity and applicability. However, there are contrasting results on its assumption that firms follow a gradual internationalisation process. Literature shows that firm strategies (e.g. targeting a niche market) and firm resources (e.g. brand image and asset specificity) may decrease barriers of entry. Global fashion retailers possess these characteristics and may not follow a gradual internationalisation pattern. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether fashion retailers that target a niche market, have a strong brand image and asset specificity will follow a gradual internationalisation pattern suggested by Uppsala.

Two aspects of internationalisation (speed of internationalisation and market selection) were analysed. Market selection was measured by three aspects of distance (geographic distance, economic distance, and culture distance). Data were collected utilising secondary sources and internationalisation patterns were calculated using existing formulas.

Overall, results provided partial support for Uppsala model. After cautious expansion early in internationalisation, fashion retailers experience a period where rapid expansion exists. During initial internationalisation, geographically and economically close markets were chosen, which mirror the Uppsala model. However, no incremental patterns were observed thereafter. In addition, after initially moving to culturally close countries, firms moved to countries with close cultural proximity to each other rather than close to home market.

The findings are based on three cases of fast fashion retailers; thus, for further generalisation, if the findings will be applicable to other fashion firms which have different strategies and resources needs to be examined.

This study is one of the first attempts to research the applicability of Uppsala model to fashion retailers. By investigating fashion retailers that target niche markets, have strong brand image and asset specificity; the paper adds additional empirical evidence of situations where internationalisation does not follow the linear pattern that Uppsala model argues.

Grounded in the Uppsala model, the purpose of this paper is to investigate specific firm factors of fashion service retailers, which include: product category offering, firm experience (limited vs extensive) and firm size (small vs large) and examines how variations in these firm characteristics produce significant differences on three aspects of internationalisation activities; scale and scope of internationalisation, market choice (geographic and cultural distance), and financial performance (international sales and profit), and whether market choice produces differences on financial performance.

Secondary sources were utilised to empirically investigate retailers (n=118). Information regarding product category offering, year of establishment, number of employees, countries entered, international sales, and profit were collected from retailer web sites, press releases, and annual reports.

There were significant differences between product category offering and firm size in retailers’ internationalisation behaviours, and there were significant differences between product category offering and market choice in their financial performance. Variations in firm experience did not produce any significant differences.

This study extends limited literature on the internationalisation of fashion service retailers and contributes knowledge of how variations in specific firm factors produce different outcomes in terms of internationalisation, market choice, and financial performance.

Retailers offering functional products may be more flexible in their internationalisation. Firms regardless of experience or size may consider being active in international markets because variations in these factors does not impact performance.

This study addresses multiple gaps in retailer internationalisation literature and findings point that product category should be considered when studying internationalisation of service firms.

In the light of recent changes in the international environment, the purpose of this paper is to consider whether the drivers of, and impediments to, retail internationalisation and the business strategy adopted have also changed.

Interviews were conducted with 12 UK and US retailers. These exploratory data were combined with a review of the literature to explore changes in the drivers and impediments of retail internationalisation.

Findings of this study suggest that, while a variety of factors drive retail internationalisation, profit growth is the most dominant motivator. In terms of impediments to foreign expansion, domestic market conditions were a barrier to the initiation of foreign expansion, whilst the regulatory environment and previous experiences presented obstacles in the process of internationalisation. Interviewees also expressed a desire for increased standardisation, while acknowledging the need for a substantial degree of adaptation in response to cultural differences.

The research findings are limited in terms of their generalisability.

Much of the existing research into retail internationalisation was conducted in the 1990s. Given the substantial changes that have occurred over the past 15 years, the value of this paper lies in the updating of knowledge.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of international expansion on the sales volumes of large‐scale retailers.

Sales data of 200 largest retailers from around the world reported in the 2004 Deloitte “Global Retail Power” survey were analyzed with regression analyses.

It was found that: even though internationalization makes a positive contribution to retailers' sales volumes its impact is small; this effect is not impacted by the moderating factor of the degree of retailer specialization along product lines; while another moderating factor, namely the identity of the retailer's country of origin, does make a difference.

The research methodology and the nature of the data precluded the use of more “soft” measures such as measures of managerial cognitions, perceptions and attitudes to analyze their impact on the effectiveness of internationalization for retailers. The research used cross‐sectional data and further research should compare results in additional time points to capture the possible dynamic changes in this industry.

Retailers seeking to expand their sales volumes should not rely too much on internationalization but consider also other strategic options. They should therefore analyze carefully whether large investments in overseas operations are justified. This is particularly relevant for US retailers.

This paper focuses on the issue of internationalization as a viable retail strategy to achieve larger sales volumes. The study reaches its conclusions on the basis of an analysis of data from a large population of diverse, domestic‐only and international retailers from around the world from different sectors and countries of origin, who – the international retailers – operate in different countries.

This paper is the result of empirical research funded by The British Academy. The overall purpose of the study is to investigate the initial barriers to internationalization experienced and perceived by small retailers based in the UK and the role of government support in addressing such obstacles.

A qualitative, multiple case research design is adopted. This involves semi‐structured in‐depth interviews with the senior manager/decision‐maker in six retail SMEs based in the UK and the analysis of company documentation and information from a range of secondary sources.

The findings from the case study data highlight internal and external barriers to internationalization relating to management: lack of vision, fear of losing control, lack of knowledge; the company: transfer of retail concept overseas, lack of resources, lack of consolidation in domestic market; and the external environment: legislation, currency, cultural differences and logistics. The findings also highlight an overall negative experience and perception of government support in assisting smaller retailers to overcome these barriers and aid expansion outside the UK.

The findings of this study provide important insight into the perceived and actual barriers encountered by retail SMEs. On one hand, the focus on SMEs provides fresh evidence to the retail internationalization literature, which has focused primarily on the barriers faced by large multinational retailers. On the other hand, the context of this study, yields new insight into research conducted in the field of SME internationalization, which has to date ignored smaller firms in the retail industry. The findings of this study also allow for recommendations to be made to both owner‐managers and government organizations.

The purpose of this paper is to study draws on the resource- and knowledge based views (RBV/KBV) of the firm to explain the internationalisation speed of retail firms.

The authors use a panel data set of 144 international retailers over a ten-year period and employ feasible generalised least squares analysis in order to assess the effect of intangible assets and international experience on internationalisation speed.

The results support direct effects of intangible assets and international experience, while the latter effect is also moderated by firms’ home-region concentration.

The study investigates the determinants of retailers’ internationalisation speed. While research stresses the positive performance effects of rapid internationalisation, future research should investigate the role of internationalisation speed for the performance of retailers empirically. The findings support the usefulness of adopting a RBV/KBV for explaining internationalisation speed.

The findings imply that firms need to have particular intangible resources before being able to internationalise rapidly. They also show that decision-makers need to be mindful of the effects of international experience in allowing them to expand overseas both within and outside their home region.

There has been very little research into the speed with which firms in general and service sector firms in particular expand their operations internationally. Through a theory-based analysis of a newly created panel data set this study provides novel insights into the factors that lead retail firms to internationalise rapidly.

In recent years the scale and scope of retailer internationalisation activity has grown markedly, mainly through increasing levels of cross‐border merger and acquisition activity. This has been particularly prevalent among companies operating in the food retail sector. During this time, and within the context of increased merger and acquisition activity in international markets, the financial institutions have taken an increasingly prominent role in the retail internationalisation process. Explores the nature of the financial institutions’ role in the retailer internationalisation process and, specifically, the extent to which the financial institutions actually inhibit and/or promote retail international activity. A key purpose of this study is to examine some of the drivers and inhibitors of the retailer internationalisation process. Reports the findings from 30 in‐depth interviews with food retail analysts of the leading investment banks in the City of London. The findings from this study should help to provide further insights into the nature of the retailer internationalisation process.

This paper aims to examine the important factors that influence foreign retailers' expansion in China. By doing so the paper proposes business strategies for foreign retailers to be successful in China and other emerging economies.

A case study approach is employed to build theory. Five case studies were chosen, including the world's four largest retail firms: Wal‐Mart, Carrefour, Metro and Tesco, as well as the Japanese department store Heivado.

The paper identifies six important activities in successful retail expansion: adaptation to the external environment; responses to psychic distance; establishment of business networking; localization; entry strategies into new areas; and the role of local management team. A new framework articulates the interdependent relationships between various factors embedded in retail internationalization, including external environment, internal drivers, psychic distance, and expansion strategies.

The findings provide directions to managers of international retail firms on how to expand successfully in an emerging market.

This paper offers an exploratory framework on post‐entry expansion, which provides an indispensable link between previous research on pre‐entry and entry stages of retailer expansion and future research on foreign retailers' performance.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework, based on empirical research, to explain the strategic processes of post-entry development in international retailing through consideration of the dynamic capabilities attributable to retailers.

Case study approach of five international retail firms using secondary data and primary data gathered through interviews with firms ' executives and financial analysts.

The research findings, in the light of the existing literature, suggest a framework that makes a distinction between first level or generic dynamic capabilities relevant to the internationalization process and second level or specific dynamic capabilities that are linked to particular strategies used by individual retail firms as they internationalize.

Research in international retailing has focused on empirical studies despite calls for a more conceptual approach. This paper responds to this call by applying the dynamic capabilities approach to the post-entry international activity of apparel retailers.