The Internationalization Process of SME’s in a Developing Country: Case Studies of three Iranian SME’s

Internationalization presents firms with various opportunities to expand their business operations as well as improve their organizational performance. The review of the small business literature, however, reveals internationalization as an area of research has not attracted much attention, particularly among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Iranian context. This study represents an attempt to investigate internationalization among SMEs in Iran through a deep study of three firms. More specifically, the study strived to examine the factors that influence SMEs’ decision to internationalize, the preferred entry mode for the firms, the barriers and challenges they face. Findings of the study also indicate the following; the SMEs’ decisions to internationalize were influenced by different factors, the firms used different sources of information, and the firms identified various internationalization options.