Motivations and Barriers for the Sustainable Internationalization of the Portuguese Textile Sector

Abstract

This study aims to analyse the importance of internationalization for the sustainability of companies in the textile sector, as well as to identify the main motivations and barriers to internationalization. For the development of the study, a qualitative methodology was used through interviews with six Portuguese companies in the textile sector. The collected information was submitted to a content analysis, through data coding with NVIVO 11.0 software. The results obtained show the main motivations for internationalization, the criteria used for choosing the countries to internationalize, the advantages of internationalization and the external and internal barriers. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of internationalization, the barriers that companies in the textile sector face and what solutions they find to overcome some of these same barriers. In addition, the results will help policy makers define policies to support internationalization.