O reflexo do processo de internacionalização no desempenho das pequenas e médias empresas: um estudo meta-analítico

Abstract

The role of small and medium-sized enterprises for the economy and for social well-being has been increasingly highlighted through research and economic reports that highlight their importance for various economic and social sectors. In response, there was an increase in the volume of research and reviews on the growth of small and medium-sized companies; a literature which takes on different theoretical perspectives and which, however, is highly fragmented. What seems certain, and agreed by many authors, is the fact that many companies resort to an attempt to expand beyond their borders, as a way of growth or even survival at some point in their trajectory. In this perspective, internationalization appears as an alternative; a process that allows companies to interact with foreign markets from different operational paths with distinct characteristics and objectives. This meta-analytical research aims to investigate one of the main topics of discussion about the internationalization of small and medium-sized companies, which, however, still presents conflicting results due to problems such as the operationalization and measurement of its main investigative constructs. Therefore, the work proposes to investigate, through the analysis of a significant sample of academic articles, what are the impacts of internationalization on the performance of SMEs, as well as other reflexive points such as the debate on the operationalization of the most used variables and why the existence of conflicting results in research which are dedicated to this theme.