Strategic alliances in the internationalization of SMEs: a qualitative study

In today’s business environment, internationalization is everywhere, whether in daily routines or business and entrepreneur life. To be able to accompany this development markets had to follow this path and so therefore had firms. Not only big companies started to act in international markets, also small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), if they wanted to succeed and achieve better results, started to try and find ways to get involved in other countries and penetrate foreign markets. However these small firms entered these new markets, most of them turned to other firms in order to build strategic alliances as a resource to achieve their goals. Portuguese SMEs are no exception to the rule and have used other firms as a means to help them get their products known beyond national markets. The objectives of this study are to identify the reasons for the internationalization of Portuguese SMEs using strategic alliances and to build an understanding of the entire process. To do so, two case studies were carried out for the analysis, obtaining information from interviews and documentary analysis. It was found that to internationalize, Portuguese SMEs have a preference for strategic alliances because allied firms can provide them with the resources they lack and knowledge of the internationalization process, increasing their chance of success outside their country of origin. The study ends with contributions and implications for practitioners, policy makers and academics.