Stage Models Re-Visited: A Measure of the Stage of Internationalisation of a Firm1

Zusammenfassung

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This paper presents a scale to measure the stage of internationalization of a firm which depicts export development as an innovation adoption process. A four-stage, multi-item scale ranging from export awareness, interest, trial to adoption is developed. The analysis is based on two independent surveys of Australian wineries. Systematic procedures of scale development are followed including the use of confirmatory factor analysis for scale validation. The four stage model of internationalization is shown to possess good psychometric proprieties. The data analysis suggests a strong negative correlation between the first stage of awareness and the other stages, and strong positive correlations among the last three stages of internationalization.

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Auszug

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Stage Models Re-Visited: A Measure of the Stage of Internationalisation of a Firm1

Introduction

The importance of exporting has been recognised world-wide. Over the last four decades a body of literature pertaining to the export behaviour of firms has been developed (see Aaby/Slater 1989, Chetty/Hamilton 1993, Leonidou/Katsikeas 1996 for reviews). No single acceptable underlying theory explaining this behaviour exists, however, two similar schools of thought have emerged in the literature to explain this internationalisation process. One termed the innovation related internationalisation model (I-model) and the other, the Uppsala internationalisation model (U-model) (Andersen 1993).

The U-models suggest that internationalisation can be viewed as a dynamic cycle, where the change in the state of internationalisation depends upon the state of internationalisation. As a consequence the distinction between state and change aspects of internationalisation is emphasized. In contrast, the I-models view exporting as an innovation for the firm and employ theories such as Rogers' theory of innovation diffusion to explain the export behavior of firms (Rogers 1962). Both of these models view internationalisation as a sequential incremental process with a varying number of stages (Andersen 1993).

Over the last decade there has been much debate over the applicability of the stage models of internationalisation. Especially with the advent of research into born global/Internat...

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