Study "Internationalisation of SMEs"

Internationalisation has a high priority in Burgenland's RTI strategy. This study is intended to contribute to the analysis of the initial situation, in particular of Burgenland companies, and to serve as a data basis for further activities within the framework of the internationalisation strategy for SMEs.

Central results

The study focused on a quantitative company survey with the aim of investigating the significance of internationalisation for qualitative company development. Essentially, the effect of internationalisation as a driver of corporate development was confirmed. The vast majority of the companies analysed are owner-managed companies, which are on average around 20 years old. The internationalisation phase begins around 5 years after the company is founded and usually lasts around 2 years. The average degree of internationalisation of the companies is approx. 55%, which means that every second euro of turnover has a foreign connection. The main finding of the study is that internationalisation has a significant influence on the configuration variables in all dimensions (environment, entrepreneur, resources, management). However, no evidence was found for the influence of different types of internationalisation and the degree of internationalisation on the configuration variables.

Implications for research and practice

The results show that a well-founded analysis of company configurations can provide valuable insights into the change in configuration variables with regard to the development of small and medium-sized enterprises. Building on these findings, further qualitative investigations, e.g. in the form of case study analyses, should provide more in-depth insights into the mechanisms and interactions of configurations.