The road to India : the internationalization of Swedish SMEs

Abstract: Increasing globalization and decreasing trade barriers have created opportunities for Swedish companies to establish their activities in India. The aim with this dissertation is to explore if Swedish SMEs in the service sector follow the process suggested by the Uppsala Internationalization Model when establishing their activities in India. In order to find out if Swedish SMEs in the service sector follow the process suggested by the Uppsala Internationalization Model, a multiple case study was conducted, adopting a qualitative approach. Three Swedish SMEs in the IT industry, that have successfully established their activities on the Indian market, were interviewed. The results indicate that none of the companies in this study followed the internationalization process suggested by the Establishment Chain and the Psychic Distance. However, the examined companies in this study internationalized as suggested by the Basic Mechanism of Internationalization. There is limited research on the internationalization processes of Swedish SMEs in the service sector when entering the Indian market. Subsequently, this study has contributed theoretically to exploring what factors are of importance for Swedish SMEs in the service sector when entering India. Furthermore, it has possibly contributed to the initial step of further research within the field of SMEs internationalization processes, should further research be conducted involving various internationalization models. In addition, this study has contributed by strengthening the existing research regarding the Uppsala Internationalization Model. A suggestion to future research is to explore various existing internationalization models and to investigate what aspects of each model is applicable to Swedish SMEs.