Compressed internationalisation: New internationalisation behaviour of small New Zealand firms

Two important phenomena have increasingly been noted in relation to small firms: they are internationalising more often and early in their life-cycle. However, less is known about the other process dimensions of small firm internationalisation, particularly about the number of international markets small firms venture into, their choice and geographic scope of international markets, and levels of commitment in these markets. If we follow the internationalisation process models, we can assume that small firms will gradually internationalise and increase their commitments to psychically close international markets. However, as this empirical study using multiple case study methodology shows, recent internationalisers are internationalising to multiple and distant markets across a broader and global geographic scope with a low and fluctuating international market commitment. This internationalisation behaviour reflects “compressed internationalisation” involving the compression of internationalisation processes across distances and geographic markets. Although compressed internationalisation has largely been enabled by the new international environment, internationalisation strategy and international entrepreneurial orientation influence whether a firm engages in compressed internationalisation.