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The World is Spiky: An Internationalization Framework for A Semi‐Globalized World
Author(s) -
Kim Jin Uk,
Aguilera Ruth V.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
global strategy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.814
H-Index - 24
eISSN - 2042-5805
pISSN - 2042-5791
DOI - 10.1002/gsj.1094
Subject(s) - internationalization , extant taxon , globalization , economic geography , ideal (ethics) , control reconfiguration , economic system , macro , business , industrial organization , economics , international trade , political science , market economy , computer science , programming language , evolutionary biology , law , biology , embedded system
Firms operate in a semi‐globalized world wherein opportunities and constraints arise at both the country and regional levels; however, extant theories of firm internationalization focus mostly on country‐level determinants. We aim to overcome this deficiency by developing a theoretical model that explicates the mechanisms driving firm internationalization in a semi‐globalized world. Integrating the organizational learning literature with research on semi‐globalization, we argue that firms internationalize through the interplay among three mechanisms: (1) intraregional exploitation; (2) intraregional reconfiguration; and (3) inter‐regional exploration. We define and integrate these three mechanisms to derive two ideal typical internationalization trajectories that firms follow in a semi‐globalized world: home regionalization and multiregionalization. We then elaborate on how macro‐level contingencies moderate these two ideal types and conclude with implications for future research.