Measuring the Impact of Internationalization on Firms’ Ability to Serve Existing Markets: A New Analytical Tool for Manufacturing SMEs

Firms expanding into foreign markets are confronted with a complex transformation process, affecting their organization and business activities. The present paper explores the main organizational changes stemming from an international growth process and attempts to assess their potential effects on firms’ operations in existing markets. To this purpose, it introduces a new analytical tool focusing on four operational dimensions, namely production capacity, quality, lead time and variety. The framework is specifically designed for manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises planning to develop or strengthen their international presence.