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The study presented in this chapter examines an increasingly important phenomenon in the internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Following technological developments, more and more SMEs are using high-commitment foreign market entry modes. These firms, called micromultinationals, have established subsidiaries in international markets despite their resource constraints. The study is an examination of a micromultinational’s development during its internationalization life-cycle regarding changes in international entry mode, organizational structure, communication, sharing of knowledge and control.

A multiple case study method has been selected for this research. Data has been collected from four Finnish micromultinationals.

The study postulates that despite smallness and youth, immediate multinationalization is possible, as is the simultaneous expansion of both geographic scope and operations. The international operation mode of the case companies has moved toward the highest-commitment entry modes during their internationalization life-cycle. The micromultinational’s globalization process takes time and continuous readjustments and development. Some of the cases have struggled with issues related to things such as communication and sharing of knowledge throughout their existence.

The results of the study suggest that any micromultinational should carefully consider their choice of investment mode (wholly owned greenfield vs. partly owned acquisition) to avoid the stagnation phase. The unlearning is difficult and with a certain path dependency, learning advantage of newness does not seem to exist even if a firm is small and relatively young.

This is the first study to examine the internal development of a micromultinational company during its internationalization life-cycle.

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 purpose of this chapter is to introduce an emergent type of INV (international new venture) – designated as “borderless firm” – present some recent cases and speculate about its future occurrence.

A search of the literature identified 25 cases that fitted, to a greater or lesser extent, the conceptual definition of a borderless firm presented in the chapter. We also found three teaching cases whose focus-firms fitted our definition.

The three firms present a combination of intentional design with fortuitous experimentation and intensively exploited relationships. They fulfill the key features of our definition.

This study is still embryonic and was driven by the authors’ conceptual thinking, based on their intuition about a new type of firm. Detailed data came from only three cases, but 25 other cases were identified, which did, to some extent, fit the definition of a borderless firm and, as such, could be studied with this focus in order to provide further evidence and to refine the conceptual definition and our understanding of the empirical manifestation of this type of firm.

We shed light on an interesting – and probably bound to occur more frequently in the future – type of firm with distinctive characteristics: a managerial mindset that does not feel constrained by geographical frontiers; a high geographical dispersion of value-added activities (beyond the sales and distribution activities that characterize most of the literature on Born Globals and INVs); and a multi-country pool of founders/managers and internationally dispersed staff.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual model that portrays how contextual factors and behavioural cooperation mechanisms influence the effect of trade associations on the export performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in a Latin American emerging economy.

The author draws on multiple streams of literature including: co-location, networks, cooperation and export performance to suggest a series of solid theoretical insights to the literature on SMEs’ export performance, networks and co-location in the Latin American context.

Contextual factors and behavioural cooperation mechanisms influence the effect of trade associations on export performance determining the final sign of such effect. Trust plays a role within all proposed mechanisms, but is not as fundamental as previously characterised in studies on the export performance of SMEs. Cooperation might exist, prevail, and exert a positive impact on SMEs’ export performance even in the absence of trust.

This paper contributes to the literature on SMEs’ export performance, networks and co-location in the Latin American context by presenting a theoretical model that enfolds co-location, networks, trade associations and cooperation effects on SMEs’ export performance under the same foundation. It creates the categories of “contextual factors” and “behavioural cooperation mechanisms” to differentiate the elements that weight on the relationship between firms and trade associations, thus facilitating or hindering export performance. It guides policy makers and company managers on where to focus when incentivizing conduct towards a more productive export performance in Latin America and other emerging economies.

Este artículo presenta un modelo teórico que describe cómo factores de contexto y mecanismos de cooperación conductuales impactan el efecto de las asociaciones de negocios en el desempeño exportador de las pequeñas y medianas empresas (PYMES) en el contexto de los países emergentes de América Latina.

Los autores se basan en diversas líneas de investigación de la literatura, incluyendo: Co-locación, Redes, Cooperación y Desempeño Exportador para sugerir una serie de conclusiones teóricas referentes a la relación entre las PYMES y las asociaciones de negocios.

Los factores contextuales y los mecanismos de cooperación conductuales influyen en el efecto de las asociaciones de negocios en el desempeño de las exportaciones de las PYMES, determinando el signo final de dicho efecto. La confianza desempeña un papel dentro de todos los mecanismos conductuales propuestos, pero no tan fundamental como se caracterizó previamente en los estudios sobre el desempeño exportador de PYMES. La cooperación podría existir, prevalecer y ejercer un impacto positivo en el desempeño de las exportaciones de las PYMES, incluso en ausencia de confianza.

Este artículo contribuye a la literatura enfocada en PYMES, redes, co-locación y desempeño exportador, mediante la introducción de un modelo teórico que incluye en una plataforma única los conceptos de co-localización, redes, asociaciones de negocios y efectos de la cooperación en el desempeño de las exportaciones de las PYMES. En adición, crea las categorías de “factores contextuales” y “mecanismos de cooperación conductual” para diferenciar los elementos que influyen en la relación entre las empresas y las asociaciones de negocios, facilitando u obstaculizando así el desempeño de las exportaciones de PYMES en América Latina y otras economías emergentes.

This study develops our understanding of the internationalisation activities of ‘transnational entrepreneurs’ (TEs), namely, entrepreneurs that are socially embedded in two or more different countries, specifically, in the context of the growing phenomenon of ‘micro-multinationals’ involving small firms with income-generating assets in more than one country. The investigation involves TEs originating from South Asia (Indian Sub-continent), based in the UK clothing and textiles sectors. Limited statistical differences exist between the perceptions of 63 survey respondents with varying degrees of international sales regarding perceived barriers and assistance requirements towards operating in overseas markets. Subsequent interview data with 16 of those TEs owning micro-multinational businesses offer unique insights, suggesting their behaviour is distinct from certain existing literature involving internationalising entrepreneurs, but that they are not a homogeneous group as strategies vary. This study provides opportunities for further research to understand TEs’ practices, including those operating in different institutional contexts.

Several studies have proposed that small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) lack resources and experiential knowledge to internationalise to distant markets. The authors argue that SMEs can handle the lack of these tangible and intangible internal resources through external collaborations; they can achieve success in international markets by collaborating with business partners. The role of inter-firm marketing collaboration and its impact on internationalisation efforts has not been thoroughly studied, particularly in the context of SMEs. This study will thus advance our understanding of SMEs’ inter-firm marketing collaborations and how they influence performance in international markets. In this chapter, authors conceptually develop this line of arguments through an extensive literature review and develop some hypotheses and a framework that can be empirically tested. The authors believe this framework will serve as a starting point for further studies on this topic. Theoretically, we endeavour to contribute by showing that firms can enhance their level of international performance through inter-firm collaboration. The authors believe this type of study would have considerable theoretical as well as managerial implications in this important field of research.

The purpose of this study is to examine how business group (BG) affiliation influences the export propensity of new ventures (NVs). To help address the inconsistency of past research on the value of BG affiliation for firms seeking to expand their business abroad, the authors provide a contingency perspective by exploring how organizational characteristics and BG characteristics condition the value of BG affiliation. The authors analyze the impact of BG affiliation on the export propensity of NVs, including the factors that condition this impact, by using a sample of 2,874 European NVs. The primary contribution of this study is to determine the impact of BG affiliation on the export propensity of NVs, including the moderating effects of firm size on the BG affiliation–export propensity relationship. The findings show that the export propensity of NVs affiliated with BGs is significantly higher than for stand-alone NVs. However, the findings demonstrate that the impact of BG affiliation on export propensity depends on the network characteristics of the BG in terms of the geographical dispersion of network ties. Consequently, the findings suggest that BG affiliation provides advantages for NV exporting only if it provides access to international inter-firm networks thus acting as a compensatory mechanism for liability of outsidership and liability of newness in foreign markets. In such cases, BG affiliation is a major resource capital that equipoises the somewhat limited financial resource provision for NV internationalization.

There is little doubt that practitioners and academics care about talent management (TM). The significant impact that the Fourth Industrial Revolution has on the work environment, combined with a set of broader socioeconomic, geopolitical, and demographic changes, emphasize the importance of managing talent extremely well. However, it seems that practitioners and managers are still seeking answers to the practical issues in handling TM and the chapter questions how much academic research is addressing this concern. In particular, this chapter offers a critical reflection on the relevance (visibility and impact) of TM research. Although the field has evolved significantly, practical implications for stakeholders remain unanswered. In other words, the Academic-Practitioner Gap in TM remains wide. Current TM research is lost in and before translation. In order to overcome these issues, scholars will require hard self-examination, and engagement with practitioners. The future of TM will be brighter and its role more effective when stakeholders work more closely to chart a consistent pathway forward.

One of the main concerns in human resource management around the world is how education is encouraging the understanding of global issues, cultures, technological changes and social trends to make appropriate decisions in firm management. This chapter will aim to illustrate the main issues in international business (IB) theory and practice that need to be considered in configurating a global-minded curriculum that is able to produce global-minded human resources. Hence, to determine what inputs must be considered in building an exceptional curriculum and successful educational strategies, the author observe the assertions from three perspectives: first, the contributors to the IB and the multinational enterprise theory; second, the author explores the stakeholders’ perspective, who see the benefits and assume the consequences of education in the field; and third, the author reviews the researchers who in recent years have studied the problems and trends of the discipline.