O tema da internacionalização da educação superior tem ganhado destaque em pesquisas acadêmicas e na prática de gestão universitária desde os anos 1990. No Brasil, muitos setores de relações ...internacionais (SRIs) foram criados ou expandidos em instituições de educação superior (IESs) no início do século XXI. Este artigo busca entender quais as razões das IESs brasileiras para se internacionalizar na perspectiva dos gestores dos SRIs. Para isso, foi elaborado um questionário com base em uma tipologia que aponta seis grupos de razões motivadoras do processo de internacionalização da educação superior: sociais ou culturais; políticas; econômicas; acadêmicas; institucionais e nacionais. A pesquisa contou com a participação de 90 IESs vinculadas à principal associação brasileira de educação internacional, a FAUBAI. Os resultados apontam que as razões motivadoras do processo de internacionalização no conjunto de IESs estudadas são múltiplas, mas são priorizadas as razões acadêmicas, com destaque para a melhoria da qualidade do ensino e da pesquisa.
•We examine the antecedents of early internationalization for small firms based in a small economy.•We focus on entrepreneurs’ attitudes and cognition as main explanatory factors.•Fuzzy set ...qualitative comparative analysis is used to explore configurations.•The results show three configurations of antecedents for early internationalization.
The literature on international business and international entrepreneurship provides multiple explanations for early internationalization. Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, this study examines the antecedents of early internationalization for small firms based in a small economy, focusing on entrepreneurs’ attitudes toward the economic opportunities available in their domestic market, the risk of internationalizing, and the profitability of entering foreign markets. Three additional antecedents are examined: unsolicited orders, existence of underutilized capacity, and the behavior of competitors. The study uncovers three distinct combinations of antecedents that are equifinally linked to the early internationalization of small enterprises, and contributes to the literature through a multi-causal, configurational approach.
•We compared the learning processes of four firms that internationalized incrementally and four that internationalized rapidly.•The rapidly internationalizing firms relied mostly on congenital ...learning during the pre-internationalization stage.•Experience was the dominant learning mode during the pre-internationalization phase for incrementally internationalizing firms.•Experiential learning dominated during early and later internationalization phases for both types of firm.Use of learning modes was contingent on resources, thus more systematic approaches were used during the later phase.•Use of learning modes was contingent on resources, thus more systematic approaches were used during the later phase.
How firms learn about foreign markets and internationalization processes is an important theme in the literature on SME internationalization, evidenced by the Uppsala model’s emphasis on experiential learning as an explanation for incremental internationalization, and attempts to explain how early and rapid internationalization can be facilitated by alternative modes of learning, especially congenital learning. Yet, the learning processes used, and the content and source of learning, have not been compared systematically, especially with respect to how these evolve as firms become increasingly internationalized. This paper reports the findings of a retrospective longitudinal analysis of the learning processes, sources and foci of four New Zealand-based SMEs that internationalized incrementally, and four that internationalized rapidly. The findings demonstrate that while experiential learning is important, both incrementally and rapidly internationalizing firms use other learning modes at different stages of their internationalization, and that there are differences in the content and source of learning. Thus, the relationship between internationalization and learning processes may be more complex than the literature currently suggests, inviting further exploration of the multiple ways that SMEs learn, and the contingent factors that might influence this.
The Added Value of Study Abroad Tarrant, Michael A; Rubin, Donald L; Stoner, Lee
Journal of studies in international education,
05/2014, Volume:
18, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Few studies have employed experimental designs adequate for documenting the value added of studying abroad; that is, learning outcomes above and beyond that which may be achieved in domestic or ...traditional campus-based courses. Using a pre-/posttest, two-by-two factor design of course location (study abroad vs. home campus) by course subject matter (sustainability vs. nonsustainability), we found significant highest order interactions for three dependent measures of global citizenry. Results suggest that it is the combination of location (abroad) and academic focus that yields the greatest increases in specified learning outcomes for study abroad. Implications for political agendas, academic initiatives, and research directions are discussed. (HoF/text adopted).
In today's highly competitive global environment, even small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) need to make product and process innovations in order to outperform the competition and satisfy global ...customers. Investigating the success factors of innovation performance has become critical for the survival and competitiveness of SMEs. The aim of this study is to explore the impact of the degree of internationalization (DoI) on innovation performance through the mediating factors of market and entrepreneurial orientation in the context of emerging-market SMEs. We tested our model and hypotheses with 235 SMEs in the United Arab Emirates, which is an emerging market. The results obtained from partial least squares estimates indicate that the degree of internationalization positively affects innovation performance and, more importantly, that this relationship is indirect and fully mediated by market and entrepreneurial orientation for SMEs. These results shed light on the mechanism of the effect of DoI on innovation performance in the emerging-market SME context.
•This is the first study that analyze the link between internationalization and innovation performance through mediators.•A theoretical model is developed where MO and EO act as mediating factors between internationalization and innovation performance.•The proposed model is tested with a sample of 235 SMEs in the United Arab Emirates.•The findings of the study show that the influence of internationalization on innovation is indirect and fully mediated by market and entrepreneurial orientation.•This model has been tested in an under researched context which is emerging-market SMEs.
Competing theories explain the timing of internationalization and its implications. In this study, we propose that the timing stems from complex combinations of drivers, and provide a typology of ...strategic types of internationalization in relation to these drivers: entrepreneurial, serendipitous, and strategic internationalization. We discuss how these strategic types affect the subsequent outcomes of internationalization. Strategic internationalizers choose markets and entry modes using economic rationale, often becoming multinational enterprises. Entrepreneurial internationalizers expand in ways that mirror entrepreneurial features, which may lead them to become multinationals, change business models, or continue expanding within their region. Serendipitous internationalizers may not be ready for international expansion, and may de-internationalize after an initial spurt, or continue a learning process and grow as exporters. We study the internationalization strategy of information technology exporters from Costa Rica.
Sharing economy firms have been able to achieve global levels of success at an unprecedented pace. In this study, we focus specifically on internet-based firms that allow rent appropriation from ...temporary utilization of underutilized assets. By looking at these firms' main characteristics and the current dynamics revolving around their internationalization process, we develop a framework to guide future research drawing from a business ecosystems perspective. The business ecosystem approach is a promising theoretical lens to assess this phenomenon due to its more holistic view of multisided network effects and multiple stakeholders' participation that can vary across nations. We note that the sharing economy phenomenon has spurred worldwide adoption of platform businesses which, in turn, creates a great opportunity for future research to extend current theories by exploring why, when, and how these firms expand into new countries. We argue that further research on sharing economy firms and its interactions with different national ecosystem configurations can provide important insights to theory as well as relevant information to managers and policymakers.
Existing approaches at explaining accelerated internationalization of born global firms are incomplete as they do not capture the learning that is undertaken by these firms and their founders prior ...to the firm's legal establishment. Building on the extant literature and drawing on the dynamic capabilities view of competitive strategy, this paper presents a conceptual model of born global firm internationalization. We conjecture that a set of dynamic capabilities that are built and nurtured by internationally-oriented entrepreneurial founders enable these firms to develop cutting-edge knowledge intensive products, paving the way for their accelerated market entry. We develop propositions and offer concluding remarks.
•We explore the role of Chinese government in the internationalization.•Chinese governmental promotion of SOEs and the institutional escapism on POEs.•This contributes to a new understanding of the ...internationalization process.•This study identifies the limits and fills a gap of the Uppsala model.
The main focus of this study is the contrasting mechanisms through which the Chinese government influences the internationalization of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and of privately owned enterprises (POEs). The different circumstances created by the Chinese government at the outset of internationalization are found to affect the speed of internationalization and the network positions of the internationalizing firms. The research design is an in-depth multiple-case study comprising two SOEs and two POEs in the process of entering into both developed and developing host countries. The value of this study lies in its identification, theorization and analysis of, on the one hand, the Chinese governmental promotion of SOEs and, on the other hand, the institutional escapism on the part of the POEs. This contributes to a new understanding of the process through which the government takes on the role of ecological management, to which is applied self-theory. This study also identifies the limits of the Uppsala model with regard to the paths to internationalization and proposes a mechanism to explain why these limits exist. The four network positions identified in the study indicate how firms are embedded in the network of the foreign markets and in so doing contributes to filling a gap in the research on the concept of network position as outlined in the revised Uppsala model (of 2009).