Expansion within the Single European Market:a motivational structure

Abstract

This paper considers the motivational context in which internationalization occurs. The paper considers the recent research of Pellegrini (1994) and Williams (1992a, 1992b) and addresses the fundamental question concerning the nature of internationalization raised by Brown and Burt (1992). The paper reports on, and uses findings from, a survey carried out in July 1993 which focused on retail expansion within the Single European market (SEM). The relative importance of motivations is considered in the context of retailers' attitudes to the SEM. These results are placed in the context of previous research findings and the theoretical literature on international retailing. On the basis of UK retailers' attitudes to expansion in the SEM and in the light of previous research work, this paper discusses the positions adopted by retailers in relation to internationalization. A matrix representing these positions is proposed and discussed.