Serial nonlinearities in firm's internationalisation process: case evidence from China

Abstract

This paper aims to contribute to the emerging literature on nonlinear internationalisation by presenting a Chinese SME's experience of nonlinear internationalisation both in terms of fluctuations in sales with every client in each foreign market and the number of foreign markets in which it operates. By analysing the firm's annual activities with 66 foreign clients in 15 foreign markets since its establishment, we found that the firm did not experience constant growth in any of the markets. Moreover, though the number of served markets has grown, only a few of them are among the original export countries. Despite this fact, this firm has grown considerably, although substantial growth was experienced much later than at the company's start-up phase, with some crisis occurring during the process. Thus, fluctuations in internationalisation do not necessarily lead to failure; they may be caused by different external and internal factors, and such fluctuations can occur several times in a particular market.