Firm International Experience in Global Markets: A Systematic Literature Review and Reconceptualization

Abstract

Despite the prominence given to firm-level international experience (IE), there is a dearth of comprehensive and unified conceptualizations of this concept in the literature. This problem necessitates a targeted study to investigate IE, compile its common conceptualization methods, and integrate the existing literature with a new comprehensive approach. The author aims to achieve this by employing Dewey's philosophy to define IE, reviewing 306 high-quality articles to extract extant approaches to the concept, and integrating these results to provide a new conceptualization. This article supports situations as generators of experience and demonstrates that previous approaches primarily focus on only some aspects of IE, overlooking the phenomenon as a whole. The new IE conceptualization is a seven-dimensional construct that includes length, breadth, depth, intensity, diversity, complexity, and echo. Additionally, the author discusses that IE can be analyzed at six levels depending on its origin (entry mode specific, international marketing specific, or both) and geographical scope (regional vs. global). The results provide a robust foundation for scholars and managers aiming to investigate and explore the realm of experiential knowledge and learning.