De-Internationalization of SMEs

Abstract

Existing literature has devoted high attention to the topic of internationalization. A common assumption is that companies progressively commit to international operations; however, with the increase of competition in international markets, there may be a backwards perspective towards international operations. In this chapter, the topic of de-internationalization is examined, and a case study of a Portuguese SME that de-internationalized conducted. The featured case highlights the drivers and the main challenges of internationalization, as well as the factors and the difficulties in a de-internationalization process. The chapter findings highlight the need to expand the existing research on the topics of de-internationalization and re-internationalization.