Internationalization of Technologybased SMEs in India: Critical Factors of Transformation

The manner in which Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in emerging economies engage in internationalization activities has not been sufficiently investigated in extant literature. This paper is aimed at uncovering the dynamics of internal transformation during the internationalization process of technology-based SMEs. The internationalization processes of three technology-based SME firms, drawn from diverse industry and company-contexts, were examined, and a model of the internationalization process of technology-based SMEs was developed. The internationalization process has been conceptualized as consisting of four critical phases—domestication, initiation, technology transformation and organizational transformation. The domestication and initiation stages act as the antecedents of an effective internationalization process. The latter two processes seem to occur in a dynamic interplay involving ‘mutual shaping’, in which organizational learning, acts as the central mechanism. The findings present a more granular understanding of the internationalization process. The inducted model also reflects the tenor of an emerging integrated perspective in the internationalization literature. The managerial and policy implications are discussed.