Internationalization in Small, Commodity Based Economies: The New Zealand Example Available to Purchase

Many studies have dealt with internationalization of business firms in the past years, few, however, have explored the pattern and process of internationalization in small, commodity based economies. In this study, the situation in New Zealand is considered, in part because it is a small, export and commodity based economy, unlike most countries previously studied. Five different clusters of New Zealand companies were found as related to the stages of internationalization. These include “Worried Beginners”, “Half‐hearted Domestics”, “Maturing Adapters”, “Conservative Exporters”, and “Experienced Succeeders”. Variables which appear to reflect stages of internationalization are also explored and presented in this study.