Delimitation of the experience factor in the decision to select international markets by Spanish SMEs: The influence of psychic distance

The internationalization of SMEs is generally characterized by a progressive multi-stage process, in which organizations gradually acquire knowledge and skills that strengthen their commitment to the outside world. International experience – a form of autonomous accumulation of know-how that allows the understanding of potential markets – influences the decision-making process for selecting export markets. Although gradual acquisition of international experience allows an increase in export activity in more physically distant markets, this gradualist postulate does not have an indefinite validity. This paper analyzes the limits of this international experience in terms of psychic distance, examining whether those SMEs that have obtained enough international experience to develop markets of greater complexity tend to select more complex, i.e., more psychically distant, countries. The findings generally support the idea that the relationship between international experience and psychically distant markets ceases when SMEs have obtained enough international experience, after which it is the objectives of a strictly business nature which condition the decision to select potential markets. For these reasons, when the organization has obtained enough skills and international experience to develop markets of greater complexity, the managers choose to select more complex i.e., more psychically distant, countries.