Enterprises Internationalize with Firm-specific Advantages : Case Study of Swedish Firms

Abstract: Business has changed and developed fast and drastically through internationalization, which has drawn many scholars’ attentions. The dissertation will focus on the firm-specific advantages (FSAs) which allow firms to go to the international markets. The theoretical framework of this dissertation contains four proxies of the firm’s specific advantages, including entrepreneur, market knowledge, network, and technology. In this dissertation, this framework will guide us to collect and analyze the empirical data. The qualitative research strategy is employed in this dissertation. Utilizing the multiple case study, we choose two sample companies, both from Halmstad. The empirical data was gathered through semi-structured personal interviews. Data was also supplemented with secondary data, such as web pages and scientific articles. The finding of this dissertation is that market knowledge and experience is a crucial, firm-specific advantage, which facilitates firm’s international expansion. In addition, the entrepreneur and network variables also have an impact on the internationalization process in direct or indirect ways. However, the study does not find obvious evidence that technology does help firms go to the foreign markets a lot.