Causes of De-Internationalization

Abstract

Until a few years ago, internationalization was seen as a self-feeding process, resulting from decisions based on accumulated knowledge. De-internationalization is not an option. However, the reality shows us that enterprises have done international divestment. To this date, the research on de-internationalization remains somehow scarce and needs additional research. The authors want to understand the causes of de-internationalization. They use the grounded theory methodology, studying six Portuguese cases that already have a process of de-internationalization. Five firms cooperate with, presenting six cases. The authors distinguish causes that occur before/after the internationalization process begin and causes related to firm or external to firm. One of the main causes of de-internationalization is the incorrect internationalization process. The Misfit Micro-Location (the wrong choice of place inside a determined country) is a very important cause, which means that, after choosing the country, it is necessary to choose the best place to be located.