Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

acceptedVersion

Publication Date

12-1997

Abstract

Two factors have been emphasised as influencing the choice of, and subsequent shifts between, modes of foreign market servicing: (1) market-specific knowledge; and (2) the generalised knowledge from operating internationally. The process-oriented literature on internalisation has tended to emphasise the former over the latter. This article maintains that market-specific knowledge is not the only source of information available to a firm. As firms operate in foreign markets they develop, in addition to networks of institutional arrangements, a knowledge of the process of internationalization. Account therefore has to be taken of the general knowledge from operating internationally in understanding the development of institutional arrangements in foreign markets. Consequently, the appropriate unit of analysis is not the individual market but the operating firm as a whole. This argument is illustrated with reference to an empirical study of the internationalization of 25 UK-based organizations.

Keywords

Internationalization, International priority, Uppsala

Discipline

International Business | Organizational Behavior and Theory

Research Areas

Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources

Publication

International Business Review

Volume

6

Issue

6

First Page

605

Last Page

623

ISSN

0969-5931

Identifier

10.1016/S0969-5931(97)00034-6

Publisher

Elsevier

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Comments

Reprinted in Buckley, P. & Ghauri, P. (2000) The internationalization of the firm: A reader. London: Academic Press. Chapter 12.

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0969-5931(97)00034-6

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