Towards De-internationalisation of Entrepreneurial SMEs: Exploring Internal and External Factors

In recent years, the global business environment has witnessed a wave of de-internationalisation among not only multinationals but also small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This disengagement of cross-border activities is deemed to be driven by various firm-specific determinants as well as external factors. Building on the premise of dynamic capabilities view and institutional theory, this paper is set to disentangle the extent to which internal and external factors drive SMEs towards de-internationalisation. To address our research objectives, we take advantage of a hybrid multi-layer decision-making-mathematical modelling approach. Our key findings reveal two distinct frameworks reflecting the general interrelationship amongst internals and externals. Also, the subordinate level explores the unique compositions leading to different de-internationalisation modes. In this vein, our findings highlight two categories of factors namely reducing and terminating factors, which drive SMEs into respectively partial and full de-internationalisation.