International (ising) SMEs : which is the state of the art?

2 PM, Seminar room, Department of Economics and Management

Speaker: Antonella Zucchella, University of Pavia

Abstract

Much part of international business  literature has been dominated by  smaller firms as “children of a lesser God”. They grow abroad either marginally and occasionally or later and slower. This is mainly  attributed   to  resources paucity. The Italian studies have the merit to have been among the first to highlight a partially different story. Also German contributions tried to uncover different angles  of the  international SMEs universe. 
Starting from the ‘90s international entrepreneurship literature gained momentum throughout the world, high lightening a different approach to international growth by smaller and younger firms, based on early and fast internationalization.
I shall discuss both the state of the literature in these fields and some recent empirical works, trying to systematize the state of the art and to identify possible novel research streams.