Towards a (More) Dynamic Theory of Internationalization: International Market Withdrawal as Empirical Extreme

Although built to explain an inherently dynamic process, current theories of internationalization are criticized for having limited dynamic qualities. To come to this conclusion, we adopt international market withdrawal as an empirical extreme. We expect dynamic theories of internationalization to be able to accommodate and explain international market withdrawal within the scope of the internationalization process of the firm. An integrated global strategy framework is presented as a promising point of departure toward this aim. To assess this framework's dynamic qualities, we compare it with the ‘stages’ models of internationalization and the transaction-cost based international business theory. Although this integrated global strategy framework — and especially the resource-based part of it — seems to outperform these two established theories, the framework is not capable of fully explaining the dynamics in the internationalization process of the firm. Moreover, the integrated global strategy framework struggles with the paradigmatic incompatibilities among its fundamental explananda. Adopting the resource-based perspective as a pivotal point, we propose an (emergent) resource-based evolutionary theory of the firm as a dynamic framework that is capable of explaining international market withdrawal and the internationalization process of the firm.