The evolution of internationalization: towards a new theory?

The theories of internationalization encompass a wide variety of explanatory elements that follow the firms’ responses to distorted, imperfect markets. Whilst traditional theories were concentrated on foreign direct investment and on how multinationals enlarged their involvement in international mar...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Moreira,António Carrizo (author)
Format: article
Language:eng
Published: 2009
Subjects:
Online Access:http://scielo.pt/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0873-74442009000100004
Country:Portugal
Oai:oai:scielo:S0873-74442009000100004
Description
Summary:The theories of internationalization encompass a wide variety of explanatory elements that follow the firms’ responses to distorted, imperfect markets. Whilst traditional theories were concentrated on foreign direct investment and on how multinationals enlarged their involvement in international markets, recent theories have focused their attention on small to medium businesses following either a staged model or a networked approach. There has been wide disagreement regarding all theories of internationalization. This paper provides a brief literature review on the main theories of internationalization and concludes that due to the emergence of a new polycentric economic world a new theory encompassing new important factors is in strong demand.