Incremental versus rapid internationalisation of firms: Results of exploratory investigation from Poland

Abstract

Objective: The main objective of the article was to discuss the pace of internationalisation and its empirical verification among Polish firms taking into account two factors – strategic thinking and familiness of the studied firms. Research Design & Methods: The paper, apart from literature review and its critique, is based on results of a survey conducted among randomly selected 355 international-ised firms of different sizes from Poland. Findings: Firms having an internationalisation strategy rather internationalise faster than these lacking such a strategy, taking into account the average number of years elapses from its founding to the first internationalisation. The empirical results show that the average time of internationalisation is shorter in case of family firms than non-family firms. Implications & Recommendations: Strategic thinking seems to be very important while going international. A well thought-out strategy can stimulate the whole process of internationalisation, so decision makers, especially entrepreneurs, should pay more attention to strategic aspects, even in early stages of development or early internationalisation. Contribution & Value Added: The article attempts to enrich the ongoing scientific discourse on the role of time and the pace of internationalisation by adding some evidence from Poland illustrating and verifying the links between strategic thinking as well as familiness of firms and the speed of internationalisation measured in years from the establishment of firms.