Prospecting theoretical approaches to understand internationalization of creative economy firms

Sílvio Luís De Vasconcellos,Cyntia Vilasboas Calixto,Jefferson Marlon Monticelli,Ivan Lapuente Garrido

doi:10.18568/1980-4865.12377-92

Abstract

We argue that the internationalization process of firms in the creative economy has particular aspects that distinguish it from internationalization of firms in traditional economic sectors. We explore ways in which the international business literature might be helpful for understanding how internationalization takes place in firms whose core business is creation of ideas. We conducted a case study using a focus group technique to investigate a creative economy firm specialized in computer graphics. The firm already does business internationally as a producer of electronic mockup models, but is transitioning to the computer-generated video production industry. Our results suggest that behavioral approaches to international business related to entrepreneurship, as well as country origin effects and networks theory could be useful to expanding knowledge about the internationalization process in such firms, in which creativity is a critical resource.

Highlights

In this paper, we explore which theoretical approaches to internationalization might be helpful for understanding how internationalization takes place in firms whose core business is creation of ideas
We argue that the internationalization process of firms in the creative economy has particular aspects that distinguish it from internationalization of firms in traditional economic sectors
Our results suggest that behavioral approaches to international business related to entrepreneurship, as well as country origin effects and networks theory could be useful to expanding knowledge about the internationalization process in such firms, in which creativity is a critical resource

Summary

Introduction

We explore which theoretical approaches to internationalization might be helpful for understanding how internationalization takes place in firms whose core business is creation of ideas. Most of these firms do business in the creative economy (Higgs & Cunningham, 2008; Higgs, Cunningham, & Bakhshi, 2008; Howkins, 2001). Despite recent interest in the creative economy, few studies have investigated the nature of the internationalization process of CEFs. For instance, combining the search terms “creative economy” and “internationalization” on the Web of Science platform only found two articles. Bianchi and de Figueiredo (2016) investigated how a program created by the Brazilian export promotion agency increased the effectiveness of the internationalization process of architecture

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