The applicability of internationalisation theories to social enterprises

Abstract: Globalisation has challenged small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to internationalise. Consequently, the academic world produced extensive publications on how SMEs approach the internationalisation process and what inhibits their export-based expansion. However, during the last decade, growing attention towards sustainability led to the creation of a new form of entrepreneurial organisation: social enterprises. Social enterprises combine an economic goal with the objective to generate a positive impact on society, focusing on social inclusion or environmental issues. The purpose of this study is to investigate if internationalisation theories on SMEs and on export inhibitors apply to social enterprises. The problem has been investigated by conducting a qualitative content analysis of interviews with C-level managers of social enterprises, with a social or environmental focus. The research contributed to validate the applicability of four internationalisation models to social enterprises. The results show a correlation between business and internationalisation maturity and the influence of the social purpose on social enterprises' internationalisation. Hence, theoretical shortcomings that need to be addressed have been identified. Lastly, the study found that social enterprises are subject to the same export barriers of SMEs. The research has been carried in collaboration with Oscar Ohlström, from Stockholm University (SU). Hence, two master thesis reports have been produced. The first is the following one and, the second has been published under the title of "Internationalizing ForProfit Social Enterprise”. Some sections of the documents have been co-written and, they are present in both reports.