Imagination and Firm Internationalization

Abstract

In this paper, we explore the connection between imagination and firm internationalization. We review existing internationalization process models to suggest that these models have paid limited attention to the imaginative and forward-looking aspects of managerial decision making. A set of conjectures outlines how imagination in managers’ decision making matters for variance and jumps in foreign establishment chains, modes of foreign expansion, and how it may affect success in firm internationalization. We discuss how incorporating imagination into the research agenda on firm internationalization opens up new possibilities for research, with particular emphasis on developing a better understanding of how at the micro level managers think about internationalization, and its methodological implications.