The Impact of the Institutional Environment on SME Internationalization: an Assessment of the Environmental Assumptions of Emerging Integrated Models of Internationalization

This study provides an empirical test of the assumptions that many existing models of internationalization make regarding the institutional factors influencing internationalization by small to medium-sized firms (SMEs). Utilizing a sample of over 2100 SMEs in nine countries, the roles of such institutional attributes as the nature of the economic and legal systems and the levels of economic and political risk are examined in light of the impact that these factors have on the levels of international activity of SMEs. The results indicated that each of these factors may play an important role in either motivating or enabling internationalization.