Background: The service sector accounts for more than 60 percent of global output. The EU has signed bilateral trade agreements with several countries and economic blocks in order to achieve reciprocal service liberalizations. The extensive trade agreements recently signed with Mexico and Chile, are expected to pave the way for new opportunities for Swedish service companies looking to entering the Latin-American market. Purpose: To examine which entry mode will provide service companies with the best competitive advantages when entering the Mexican or Chilean market. Results: Strong liberalizations have been made in sectors important to Swedish service companies. This will open up new opportunities for the companies when it comes to obtaining a stronger form of control over the foreign establishment. For some sectors sole venture or joint venture could be seen as realistic alternatives, while for others trade barriers still stand in the way for a more far-reaching establishment mode.

In Turkey, the trade regime has been liberalized to some extent after Resolutions of 24 January 1980, and Turkey started to implement export-led trade strategies. As a part of these policy instruments, the Free Zones Law was published in the Official Gazette in 1985. Following various amendments in the Law, objectives of free zones have been defined as &ldquo / promoting export-oriented investment and production, accelerating the entry of foreign investment and technology, directing enterprises to export and improving international trade&rdquo / . Within this context, the purpose of this study is to explore the economic impacts of free zones and analyze the free zone firms&rsquo / perceptions on the success of free zones by assessing to what extent the establishment objectives of the free zones in Turkey have been realized.

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Firms of European small open peripheral economies face an increasing globalization of markets, a strengthening of global value chains, a well documented knowledge and technological gap and these in conjunction to the current crisis at least in the southern part of Europe. These conditions compose a demanding and complex environment within which firms must cope and survive. In this direction, analyzing first and improving in turn competitiveness and productivity of European firms’ has become a primary policy objective of the EU at the national, regional, sectoral and firm level in an attempt to close the growth gap with the United States (Aghion et al., 2008). In this mission, boosting exporting activities and investments in Innovation, R&D and knowledge intensity is of the outmost importance since they are seen as drivers of productivity, growth and competitiveness (EU, 2012). Especially with respect to Greece’s economic outlook and as it has been documented in several European policy documents and analyses, the country’s innovation performance has been consistently characterized as “moderately following” (IUS, 2013) the EU’s innovation leaders. The same picture is sketched with Greek firms’ export performance as a crucial component of its overall competitiveness (European Competitiveness Report, 2012). Examining more closely the relationship between firms’ exporting activities and innovation dynamism, the theoretical and empirical evidence suggests that firms which are presenting innovation activities are more likely to export, more likely to export successfully, and more likely to generate growth from exporting than non-innovating firms (Golovko and Valentini, 2011; Love and Roper, 2013). In other words, innovation and export performance are directly linked with the creation of a sustainable competitive advantage and are considered as a primary precondition for economic growth (Piercy et al., 1998; EU, 2012). More specifically, exporting activities are considered as the primary internationalization mode (Johanson and Valhne, 1977; 2009) and firms’ knowledge and learning processes are expected to play a pivotal part in the internationalization process; firms need to be in a position to apprehend and assimilate new knowledge in order to compete and grow in markets in which they have little or no previous experience (Autio et al. 2000). In this direction, the relationship between the degree of internationalization and the intensity of the production of technological knowledge remains under examination, since the significant heterogeneity in terms of country, industrial distribution, firm size, and other factors has lead to contradictory results (Harris and Li, 2009). In addition, the differential effects of the firms’ environment which in turn can be further specified in various dimensions –such as business culture, organizational characteristics, strategic orientation, national and regional systems of innovation- introduce a significant amount of unobserved heterogeneity in the employed methodological frameworks. At the same time, the causality direction, too closely related to endogeneity issues, between exporting and R&D activities has not been yet addressed adequately. The relevant literature has documented two theoretical strands, the Product Life Cycle and Endogenous Growth theory, which hypothesize on causality direction between exports and R&D activities. More specifically, the Product life cycle theory argues that innovation eventually leads to exporting (Posner, 1961; Vernon, 1966; Krugman, 1979; Dollar, 1986) and this theoretical strand is strongly interrelated with the Market Selection Hypothesis (MSH; Wagner 2007) which favours the argument that exporters have superior performance characteristics than non-exporters. On the other hand, the Endogenous growth models (Grossman and Helpman, 1989, 1990, 1991a; Segerstrom et al., 1990; Young, 1991; Aghion and Howitt, 1998, ch. 11) argue on the reverse direction of causality. The notion behind this is that exporting firms access to foreign markets provides them with feedback from their suppliers and/or customers, which gives them the opportunity to transform this knowledge into innovation. This theoretical strand has been recorded as opposite to the market selection hypothesis and is named Learning by Exporting Hypothesis (LEH; Clerides et al., 1998; Salomon and Shaver, 2005) Both the above hypotheses seem plausible and have been empirically but the relevant literature has provided contradictory results. However, it would only make sense to assume that this causality direction may be not so straightforward since causality may run in both directions that is a two-way linkage between a firm’s exporting and innovating activities may exist (Filipescu et al. 2013). The starting point of this PhD thesis lies on the idea that both these activities may influence each other and therefore, is focused on the investigation of the endogeneity between established knowledge creation processes (R&D activities) and internationalization activities as they are depicted in exporting activities. It is worth mentioning that towards the direction of seeking proof for the existence of an endogenous relationship between R&D activities and exports different methodological approaches have been employed. All of them however, examine the existence of endogeneity between the two main firm activities as well as identifying the appropriate set of determinants for each one of the firms’ activities as the relevant literature dictates. In order to (i) sufficiently address the abovementioned multiple heterogeneity, and (ii) be able to compare them, the present research investigates the interrelationship between R&D and exporting activities on two distinctively different groups of firms. More specifically, two different contextual frameworks are employed, one International and one National. The first group of firms focuses on those firms that are considered to be leaders with respect to R&D investments at a global level. The second group of firms under investigation, concerns the Greek firms which are in turn considered leaders within the national system of innovation they operate but have been consistently characterized as moderately followers within the European context (IUS, 2013). Information for the investigation of the international context was provided by the UK Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS, 2007; 2008). Yet, regarding the national context, a profound lack of information exists both with respect to exporting activities but also with respect to R&D activities at the firm level, which inevitably led to the conducting of a field research at the National Level targeting the Manufacturing Sector. In this line, and in order for the gathered information to be comparable with other European surveys on Innovation and in particular with Community Innovation Survey (CIS), the design of the questionnaire was primarily based on the CIS standards. In addition to the data provided by the National survey, all the financial and other information, including annual expenditures on R&D, for the period 2001-2010 was provided by the electronic database “i-mentor”. Based on this information, a better approximation of R&D performance has become feasible through the construction of Greek R&D active manufacturing firms’ R&D stock (Kumbhakar et al., 2012). The main argument supporting this transformation is that fluctuations in R&D investment flows are more volatile than the knowledge stock acquired from such investments (Dierickx and Cool, 1989). The third chapter of this PhD thesis is devoted in presenting the specificities of the field research, the adopted methodology for the construction of firms’ knowledge stock, along with primary descriptive results sketching the outlook of Greek R&D manufacturing firms. The rest of this PhD thesis involves three essays each one of them examining research questions arising from the endogenous relationship between R&D and export activities. / Η ενίσχυση της δυναμικότητας και του ανταγωνιστικού πλεονεκτήματος των επιχειρήσεων με βάση την καινοτομία και την εξωστρέφεια έχουν απασχολήσει τόσο την ακαδημαϊκή έρευνα όσο και την πολιτική. Ειδικότερα η Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση στήριξε την πολιτική της για την κάλυψη του χάσματος, σε σχέση με τους κύριους ανταγωνιστές της, σε αυτούς τους δυο πυλώνες (Lisbon strategy, ….) τουλάχιστον από τις αρχές του 2000. Αναγνωρίζεται ευρύτατα ότι οι πολιτικές αυτές δεν είχαν τα αναμενόμενα αποτελέσματα όχι γιατί στους δυο παραπάνω πυλώνες αποδόθηκε δυναμική που στην πραγματικότητα δεν είχαν αλλά γιατί οι επιμέρους πολιτικές που σχεδιάσθηκαν και εφαρμόσθηκαν δεν κατάφεραν αφενός να ενισχύσουν κάθε πυλώνα χωριστά και δεν αναγνώρισαν τις μεταξύ τους αλληλεξαρτήσεις. Έτσι, τα ζητήματα τόσο του τεχνολογικού πλεονεκτήματος όπως αυτό αποτυπώνεται στην καινοτομία όσο και της εξωστρέφειας παραμένουν ιδιαίτερα επίκαιρα ειδικά στο πλαίσιο της οικονομικής κρίσης που είναι κυρίαρχη, αν και ασύμμετρα, στο σύνολο της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης. Ειδικά για την Ελλάδα, την περισσότερο πληττόμενη από την κρίση Ευρωπαϊκή οικονομία, αν και έχει αναγνωρισθεί τόσο η υστέρηση των επιχειρήσεων σε όρους καινοτομίας και εξαγωγικού προσανατολισμού και αν και έχουν υλοποιηθεί μια σειρά από παρεμβάσεις σε αυτή την κατεύθυνση, το χάσμα τόσο ως προς το μέσο Ευρωπαϊκό αλλά και ως προς τον μέσο όρο των χωρών του ΟΟΣΑ παραμένει ιδιαίτερα μεγάλο. Η παρούσα Διδακτορική Διατριβή εστιάζει σε ζητήματα που προκύπτουν από την αλληλεπίδραση των δραστηριοτήτων παραγωγής γνώσης και καινοτομίας από την μια και των δραστηριοτήτων διεθνοποίησης των επιχειρήσεων από την άλλη. Πιο συγκεκριμένα διερευνώνται θέματα που προκύπτουν από την ενδογένεια των διαδικασιών παραγωγής γνώσης που αποτυπώνονται σε διαδικασίες Έρευνας και Τεχνολογικής Ανάπτυξης (ΕΤΑ) και δραστηριότητες διεθνοποίησης (internationalization) που με τη σειρά τους αποτυπώνονται σε εξαγωγικές δραστηριότητες. Οι μεθοδολογικές προσεγγίσεις που χρησιμοποιούνται προσαρμόζονται κάθε φορά αφενός στα ιδιαίτερα ερευνητικά ερωτήματα που τίθενται και αφετέρου στην πολλαπλή ετερογένεια που χαρακτηρίζει τις επιχειρήσεις σε μικρή ανοικτή οικονομία, όπως η Ελλάδα, σε σύγκριση με τις ηγέτιδες σε όρους ΕΤΑ επιχειρήσεις διεθνώς. Σε αυτή την κατεύθυνση, διερευνώνται δύο διαφορετικά συστήματα καινοτομίας-διεθνοποίησης, και συγκεκριμένα το Διεθνές και το Εθνικό, που αναφέρονται αντίστοιχα σε δύο διακριτές ομάδες επιχειρήσεων. Η πρώτη ομάδα επιχειρήσεων επικεντρώνεται σε εκείνες που θεωρούνται πρωτοπόροι σε επενδύσεις σε ΕΤΑ σε παγκόσμιο επίπεδο. Η δεύτερη ομάδα επιχειρήσεων που διερευνάται αφορά τις Ελληνικές επιχειρήσεις οι οποίες με τη σειρά τους θεωρούνται πρωτοπόροι εντός του εθνικού συστήματος καινοτομίας στο οποίο δραστηριοποιούνται αλλά ταυτόχρονα έχουν επανειλημμένως χαρακτηριστεί ως «μέτριοι ακόλουθοι» (moderately following) σε όρους καινοτομικής δραστηριότητας εντός της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης (IUS, 2013). Ενώ η διαθεσιμότητα των πληροφοριών για τις επιχειρήσεις που αναγνωρίζονται σε διεθνές επίπεδο ως πρωτοπόρες σε επενδύσεις ΕΤΑ προέκυψε από ανοικτής πρόσβασης βάσεις δεδομένων, για την ελληνική περίπτωση παρατηρήθηκε παντελής έλλειψη σχετικών πληροφοριών τόσο όσον αφορά τις δραστηριότητες ΕΤΑ όσο και τις εξαγωγικές δραστηριότητες των ελληνικών επιχειρήσεων. Η έλλειψη αυτή οδήγησε στην διενέργεια έρευνας πεδίου σε Πανελλαδικό επίπεδο στον τομέα της Μεταποίησης. Η παρούσα διδακτορική διατριβή αποτελείται από έξι κεφάλαια. Στο πρώτο κεφάλαιο πραγματοποιείται επισκόπηση της βιβλιογραφίας πάνω στη σχέση των εξαγωγικών δραστηριοτήτων και των δραστηριοτήτων ΕΤΑ τόσο σε θεωρητικό όσο και σε εμπειρικό επίπεδο και τίθεται το γενικό πλαίσιο της ανάλυσης. Σε αυτή την κατεύθυνση, αναδεικνύεται η συμβολή της παρούσας Διατριβής. Το δεύτερο κεφάλαιο αναφέρεται στο διεθνές σύστημα καινοτομίας όπου οι επιχειρήσεις, ανεξαρτήτως χώρας προέλευσης, ανταγωνίζονται σε όρους παραγωγής γνώσης. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, διερευνάται η ύπαρξη ενδογένειας ανάμεσα στην εξαγωγική ένταση από την μια και την ένταση των δραστηριοτήτων ΕΤΑ από την άλλη στη βάση του επιχειρήματος ότι η γνωσιακή βάση (knowledge base) των ηγέτιδων επιχειρήσεων, σε όρους ΕΤΑ, μεγεθύνεται από ροές γνώσης που προκύπτουν τόσο από τις δραστηριότητες ΕΤΑ όσο και από τις εξαγωγικές δραστηριότητες. Στο τρίτο κεφάλαιο παρουσιάζονται τα βήματα που ακολουθήθηκαν σε σχέση με τον εντοπισμό του πληθυσμού των επιχειρήσεων που καταγράφουν δαπάνες ΕΤΑ στους ετήσιες δημοσιευμένες χρηματοοικονομικές τους καταστάσεις τους, τα κριτήρια που ακολουθήθηκαν για τον «καθαρισμό» των δεδομένων (data cleaning) καθώς και αναλυτική περιγραφή της έρευνας πεδίου. Επιπλέον, παρουσιάζεται η μεθοδολογία που ακολουθήθηκε για την κατασκευή του αποθέματος γνώσης (knowledge stock) των ελληνικών επιχειρήσεων που παρουσιάζουν δραστηριότητες ΕΤΑ καθώς και βασικά περιγραφικά στατιστικά που προέκυψαν από την πληροφορία που συνελέγη από την έρευνα πεδίου. Στη συνέχεια, το τέταρτο κεφάλαιο της παρούσας διδακτορικής διατριβής τοποθετείται εντός του Ελληνικού Συστήματος και αφορά ελληνικές μεταποιητικές επιχειρήσεις που παρουσιάζουν δαπάνες σε ΕΤΑ και ανήκουν σε κλάδους χαμηλής έντασης τεχνολογίας. Συγκεκριμένα, τα ερευνητικά ερωτήματα επικεντρώνονται τόσο στην διερεύνηση ύπαρξης όσο και εκδήλωσης διαφορικών επιδράσεων στο ανταγωνιστικό πλεονέκτημα (competitive advantage) των επιχειρήσεων αυτών που προκύπτει από την απόφαση τους να (μην) εξάγουν. Το ανταγωνιστικό πλεονέκτημα προσεγγίζεται από την εκτίμηση της τεχνικής αποτελεσματικότητας (technical efficiency) όπου το απόθεμα γνώσης αποτελεί την τρίτη εισροή μαζί με τις εισροές του κεφαλαίου και της εργασίας. Έτσι δημιουργείται θεωρητικό υπόδειγμα στο πλαίσιο του οποίου η τεχνική αποτελεσματικότητα, μέσω της διαδικασίας μετατροπής δεξιοτήτων (competences) σε ικανοτήτων (capabilities), αποτυπώνει το ανταγωνιστικό πλεονέκτημα. Σε αυτή την κατεύθυνση υποστηρίζεται ότι το ανταγωνιστικό πλεονέκτημα που βασίζεται στις δραστηριότητες ΕΤΑ των ελληνικών επιχειρήσεων προσδιορίζει ενδογενώς της απόφαση τους να συμμετέχουν στις ξένες αγορές. Το επιχείρημα αυτό στηρίζεται στο ότι οι επιχειρήσεις που καλούνται να αποφασίζουν εάν θα εξάγουν στην πραγματικότητα προεξοφλούν τα αναμενόμενα οφέλη και τα κόστη από τη συγκεκριμένη δραστηριότητα σε σχέση με τη διατήρηση του ανταγωνιστικού πλεονεκτήματος που κατέχουν. Με άλλα λόγια, διερευνάται αν το επιχειρηματικό μοντέλο που έχει υιοθετηθεί από τις εξεταζόμενες επιχειρήσεις, και μετατρέπει τις δεξιότητες σε ικανότητες, στην ουσία προσδιορίζει και την απόφαση για εξαγωγές. Το πέμπτο κεφάλαιο της παρούσας Διδακτορικής Διατριβής διερευνά την ύπαρξη ενδογένειας ανάμεσα στις εξαγωγικές δραστηριότητες και τις διαδικασίες παραγωγής γνώσης των ελληνικών μεταποιητικών επιχειρήσεων που παρουσιάζουν δραστηριότητες ΕΤΑ εντός ενός διευρυμένου θεωρητικού πλαισίου όπου συν-θεωρούνται και άλλες στρατηγικές παράμετροι που είναι πιθανό να επηρεάζουν αυτή τη σχέση. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, οι διαδικασίες παραγωγής γνώσης, όπως έχουν αποτυπωθεί στα επιμέρους συστατικά της γνωσιακής βάσης των επιχειρήσεων αλλά και στην στρατηγική διερεύνησης εξωτερικών συνεργασιών για συνεργασίες στις δραστηριότητες ΕΤΑ, συνδέονται με την εξαγωγική και καινοτομική αποδοτικότητα (export and innovation performance). Ένα επιπλέον επίπεδο πολυπλοκότητας προστίθεται όταν ο διττός χαρακτήρας της έντασης των εξωτερικών συνεργασιών σε ΕΤΑ λαμβάνεται υπόψη. Δηλαδή, διερευνάται σε ποιο βαθμό η ένταση των εξωτερικών συνεργασιών για δραστηριότητες ΕΤΑ συνδέεται με την αποδοτικότητα της διεθνοποίησης των ελληνικών επιχειρήσεων καθώς μπορεί να θεωρηθεί ως εναλλακτικός δρόμος διεθνοποίησης τους. Από την άλλη μεριά η διαδικασίες που συγκροτούν το γνωσιακό απόθεμα των επιχειρήσεων μπορεί να συνδέονται και με την καινοτομική τους απόδοση. Τέλος στο έκτο κεφάλαιο συνθέτονται τα συμπεράσματα από το σύνολο της Διατριβής, διατυπώνονται προτάσεις πολιτικής και καταγράφονται αφενός οι ερευνητικοί περιορισμοί αλλά και αφετέρου τα μελλοντικά ερευνητικά σχέδια.

Approximately 98 % of South African exports are conveyed by sea. The volume of South Africa's sea trade represents approximately 3,5 percent of world seaborne trade in tonnage terms, a performance that placed the country on the map of international maritime nations. The major portion of South Africa's dry-bulk exports is shipped from the port of Richards Bay. Richards Bay is the seventh largest world port in terms of cargo volumes, and handles in excess of 80 million tons per annum. This represents approximately 57 % of all South African seaborne trade by volume. The greater portion of South African seaborne trade, especially on the export side consists of shipments of primary (raw) products or beneficiated primary products, and accounts for approximately 140 million tons of all cargoes. The export of primary products or commodities is a vital part of the South African economy and generates a substantial amount of the country's foreign exchange. This dissertation concludes that shipment on FOB terms continues to command the lion's share of all export consignments handled in the port. In fact from the more than 78 million tons of cargo covered in the survey, more than 64 million is shipped on FOB terms, which constitute in cargo volumes approximately 82% of all exported commodities from the Port of Richards Bay. The high incidence of shipments on FOB terms leaves the final arrangement of shipping in the hands of foreign buyers. This represents a substantial loss of revenue in invisible earnings for the country's service account of the balance of payments. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2003.

Australia and the UK are both prominent economies in the international arena and share a strong trade and investment relationship. Interestingly, the UK while being a significant destination for Australian exports is an even more significant destination for Australian direct investment, a case anomalous to international trends. Analysis of this case elicits the question as to what factors differentiate between the firms that export and those that FDI. It is imperative to understand the differentiating factors between exports and direct investment as market entry decisions are decisive to the success of firms in international markets. A number of theories of international market entry have developed over the last quarter century, the ownership, location, and internationalisation model (OLI) is used in this study. The importance of the variables developed in this model are identified, and assessed as to their relevance to entry of Australian firms into the UK market through FDI or Exports. Qualitative information is used to support initial quantitative profiling. Results of the investigation indicate that while some variables were at times decisive, they were not predictive at all in other situations. The full interaction of the variables in the model was therefore concluded to be essential to fully differentiate between exports and FDI in all cases.

Export barriers have inhibiting effects on export performance, especially for smaller and resource-poor firms. Classical internationalization theory suggests that the bigger, the older, the more resource rich and resourceful a firm is, the better the chances for success of their international or global operations. In practice, however, many small New Zealand firms have been able to overcome export barriers and achieve successful internationalization quickly in the complex, turbulent, global environment of today. Existing theories do not fully explain how and why this is possible. The apparent knowledge gap is closed by the present research with its indepth investigation into the management of export barriers and related internationalization practices using a holistic approach based on case studies. In this way the study contributes to knowledge by advancing the understanding of internationalization behaviour. In conclusion a new theoretical model is developed from the variables which this research has identified as to influence export performance and internationalization behaviour. The research is based on the cases of fifty export firms across the major business sectors from New Zealand' s Manawatu region. The study design involved a postal survey, background research, in-depth interviews and observations. The triangulated data was compiled into case studies and analysed using Eisenhardt' s grounded approach. Two main categories of export barriers were identified: ( 1 ) industry or product-specific barriers, and (2) common or shared barriers independent of industries and products. The research design enabled research into management patterns independent from sectors or industries. The findings suggest that export barriers determine strategies. In a situation of severe resource constraints, large geographic distance from international markets and small domestic market size, New Zealand' s exporters anticipate their export barriers in order not to let them impact on export performance. Successful firms reduce the influence of obstacles towards internationalization by building their strategies creatively around their core competencies in what is described as a "bricolage" approach.

Tez (Yüksek Lisans) - Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi, Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, İktisat Anabilim Dalı, 2008. / Bibliyografya var.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet, 2008. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-12T20:32:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 74585.pdf: 1181839 bytes, checksum: 97d6940a6313b941b0819038fc032cb5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-06-29 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Transformation taking place in world economies have led to the integration of the market of goods, services and capitals. Globalization is understood as the group of changes in the sphere of international capitalism that are bringing ncertainties and environmental turbulences. This new scenario compels and forces companies towards the internationalization of its activities. Internationalization is defined as a growing and continuing process of a company s involvement in operations with other countries outside its base of origin. With a sharp increase in markets globalization, the main growth opportunity for organizations is based upon international business. In order to take more advantage of these new and promising markets, many companies had to enhance their competitive capacity by improving production processes, building brands associated with export markets and investing directly in the foreign. This positioning demands a strategic thinking process. The main motivation to accomplish this thesis was the idea of proffering a scientific contribution to the international business management area, in order to promote the construction of a research about the internationalization of enterprises. The present thesis aimed to analyze the internationalization process of the casting sector in Brazil, more accurately one of this companies. Tupy S.A. was chosen as object of this study case. To understand the stages and transformations that took place within the Tupy S.A., from the genesis to the consolidation as a global enterprise, a model of internacionalization of enterprises was used but also statistical analysis. Further was verified the contextual factors which motivated this stage switch, not only the internal, but also the external context, and yet the difficulties faced by the company in each one of the steps and the dimension of this strategical movement. / As transformações que estão ocorrendo na economia mundial estão conduzindo à integração dos mercados de bens, serviços e capitais. A globalização é entendida como um grupo de mudanças na esfera do capitalismo internacional, que traz incertezas e turbulências para o ambiente. Este novo cenário compele e força as empresas para a internacionalização de suas atividades. A internacionalização é definida como um crescente e contínuo processo de envolvimento de uma companhia em operações com outros países fora de seu local de origem. Com a ampliação dos mercados globalizados, as principais oportunidade de crescimento para as organizações estão baseadas no comércio internacional. Visando a aproveitar melhor estes novos e promissores mercados, muitas empresas tiveram de buscar o aumento de sua capacidade competitiva pela melhoria dos processos produtivos, construindo uma imagem associada à exportação e investindo diretamente no exterior. Este posicionamento requer um processo de reflexão estratégica. A principal motivação para a realização desta dissertação foi de proporcionar uma contribuição científica para a área de negócios internacionais, no sentido de promover a realização de uma pesquisa sobre internacionalização de empresas. A presente dissertação objetivou analisar o processo de internacionalização do setor de fundição no Brasil e mais atenciosamente uma destas empresas. A Tupy S.A. foi a escolhida para o estudo de caso. Para entender os estágios e transformações que ocorreram na Tupy S.A., do seu nascimento à sua consolidação como uma empresa global, foi utilizado um modelo de internacionalização de empresas mas também análises estatísticas. Foram verificados ainda os fatores contextuais que motivaram as mudanças de fase, tanto no contexto interno quanto no externo, e as dificuldades enfrentadas pela firma em cada uma destas etapas e a dimensão deste movimento estratégico