Informal relationships in a company’s internationalization process

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the role of a company’s external informal relationships in the internationalization process. Design/methodology/approach To achieve the aim of this paper, a qualitative research was undertaken. The data used for analysis were obtained through face-to-face interviews with representatives of 20 companies. Findings There are two main findings of the research. First, on the basis of the analysis of the interviews, it was possible to identify 14 different outcomes of informal relationships with external actors in the internationalization process. Second, the outcomes have been assigned to different stages of the internationalization process, thereby covering the whole range of a company’s development timeline. Originality/value This paper illustrates and confirms the important and positive role of the informal relationships developed by a company with external actors in the internationalization process and indicates that it can change over time depending on the stage of the internationalization.

Decision-makers’ logic of control and SME international performance

“…Effectuation theory emphasizes that the process of new market entry begins with the entrepreneurs’ existing means (Sarasvathy, 2001). According to effectuation theory, a primary difference between means and resources lies in the fact that means are personal and intangible such as personality and values, existing knowledge and experience and social relationships (Dymitrowski et al , 2019; Read et al , 2016), which are often referred to as “who I am, what I know and whom I know” (Sarasvathy, 2001).…”

“…As partners share their experience, knowledge and perceptions, they arrive at a shared understanding of the uncertain situation, and with leveraging the aggregated understanding of the situation, they start to unpack the uncertainty of internationalization (Read et al , 2016; Windahl, Karpen and Wright, 2020). In this process, the logic of control enables actors to transform their personal dyadic relationships (Dymitrowski et al , 2019) into effectual partnership (Kerr and Coviello, 2019) to extend their control over the situation. As a result, the individual agency becomes a collective agency (Tyler and Gnyawali, 2009), which enhances the founders’/managers’ control over the situation.…”

Formal clusters supporting small firms' internationalization: a case of public–private interaction

“…How institutional actors can support SMEs’ internationalization and their positive network impacts have been investigated in the literature, but studies have focused on general institutional networks without dealing with specific actors. The relevance of the topic has been raised by several scholars, who argue for the need to understand the differences between formal and informal networks, which are usually overlooked when studying internationalization (Morrish and Earl, 2020; Dymitrowski et al , 2019) and on the resulting combinations and synergies of different policy tools (Chen et al , 2021).…”

Theoretical Foundations of the Relationship Management Mid-Range Theory

“…In addition, dynamic capabilities are viewed as intensely entrepreneurial, so long as they involve shaping (and not just adapting to) the environment (Teece 2007). In business network studies, which have traditionally analysed the formal relationships of the focal company and its partners (Dymitrowski et al 2019;Ford and Håkansson 2006), the analysis nowadays includes the social exchange perspective-that is, the informal relations among individuals representing companies (Burt 2009;Chetty and Blankenburg Holm 2000;Deszczynśki et al 2017). The bedrock of relationship management is therefore of sociological origin.…”

“…From the economic point of view, relationship capital is an idiosyncratic investment in the socialization processes that produces efficiency in the form of goodwill between the partners and a stock of other intangible benefits, which have the potential to generate financial benefits (Cousins et al 2006;Crawford 1990). Hence, the existence of relationship capital may precede a successful collaboration, but in the longer run a business relationship cannot be fed only on future expectations (Deszczynśki 2019). Therefore, the technical and organizational competences/potential of partners should be comparable in scale and scope before the cooperation begins, and benefits consumption should be maintained in relation to the partners' contribution and degree of dependence, as well as the sense of fairness (Mowery et al 1998;Urbanćzyk 2012).…”