A Dynamic Capabilities Approach to Middle-Market Firms’ Global Expansion

In this paper, we utilize the dynamic capabilities framework to investigate how firms expand internationally. Using the case study methodology, we analyze four middle-market firms operating in similar industries but making different internationalization choices. Through theoretical and literal replications, our results provide some support to two propositions. First, each type of dynamic capabilities is associated with some (but not all) specific choices (why, when, where, what, and how) for a firm’s internationalization process. Second, the outcomes of a firm’s internationalization process are contingent on the combination of the types of dynamic capabilities mastered by the firm.