Processo de internacionalização das empresas: um estudo multicaso nas cinco maiores empresas da Serra Gaúcha

Abstract

The internationalization process of companies is a complex phenomenon that depends on a number of interrelated factors in the environment both internal and external to the organization. Considering this, the socio-cultural, political and economic context in the company´s country of origin seems to influence the reasons why organizations go to international markets as well as the way they do it. Assuming this premise as true, it would be correct to say that the internationalization process of companies located in different geographical regions has similarities due to their common reality. Thus, the present study intents to identify confirmatory evidences of this proposition among the five largest companies established in Brazil´s Serra Gaucha. In order to accomplish this purpose, a qualitative study was conducted, using the multicase study methodology. In-depth interviews with the chief executive of international trade in each one of the companies chosen were realized, additionally to an extensive documentary research in publications and historical records. The analysis was carried out in accordance with the principles of content analysis, using more specifically thematic analysis techniques, as in Bardin (2004). The tests were performed considering the major theories and studies of the internationalization of companies, with emphasis on Uppsala and Eclectic Paradigm models. The results showed that the sociocultural, political and economic context in the region of origin were crucial as the initial inducements for the internationalization process of the companies studied and their entry strategies in the first foreign markets. However, this influence was becoming smaller as the degree of internationalization increased.