Accelerated internationalization
Accelerated internationalization is a novel feature of the global business economy, in both advanced and emerging economies (Schrader, Oviatt and McDougall 2001). Latecomers in particular internationalize very rapidly, by making use of prior international connections, leveraging their own expansion through making use of these – as in the case of expanding abroad as contractor to an existing multinational, or being carried by a global customer into new markets (Andersen, Blenker and Christensen 1997). It was as if these firms had executed a “gestalt switch” from domestic to global player – even if their actual pattern of internationalization was incremental. Thus they benefited from surprise in creating their global presence. A firm without this gestalt switch sees the international economy in terms of adding one As newcomers and latecomers, these firms had to find innovative ways to make space for themselves in markets that were already crowded with very capable firms.
