Success factors for active internationalisation of small and medium-sized software enterprises: case analyses from France and Brazil

Abstract

In many countries, there is a small but growing tendency towards the internationalisation of small and medium-sized software enterprises. This paper searches for insights about the internationalisation process of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with highly innovative products. It compares the internationalisation process in France, as a mainstream country in terms of technology, and Brazil, as a non-mainstream one. This paper attempts to answer the following questions: what are the factors that enable SMEs to offer high value-added products to the foreign market, and what are the differences and similarities between internationalisation processes from both countries. Based on a multiple case study, this research shows that although innovation, entrepreneurship, and foreign market knowledge are important dimensions for the active internationalisation, networking is not as relevant as it was believed to be. Moreover, the study shows that internationalisation consists of two different processes.