The Role of the Internet in the Process of Internationalization of SMEs: A Mixed Method Analysis on the Furniture Sector

The purpose of this Thesis is to obtain a better understanding of the process of Internationalization of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) following globalization and the advent of the Internet. Although the development of the Theories related to the process of internationalization of SMEs highlighted the importance of the Internet in this process, due to the constant and rapid evolution of the phenomenon, the literature is still lacking in some perspectives. This lack gave rise to the Research Question “Is the Internet a Key Tool in the Process of Internationalization of SMEs to Acquire New Foreign Customers?”. To answer this question, a mixed method analysis on the furniture sector was performed. This research methodology, that embraced both a qualitative and a quantitative method, allowed to obtain a richer amount of data and generate an improved understanding of SMEs’ internationalization process. The findings of the qualitative research phase, were obtained thanks to six company case studies, where six crucial factors regarding the internationalization process of SMEs emerged: 1) mode of adoption of the company website; 2) mode of adoption of the social media profile; 3) mode of management of the company website; 4) mode of management of the social media profile; 5) Internet data analysis; and 6) use of data in internationalization strategies. In order to test the results emerged, extending them to a significantly representative sample of SMEs, this phase allowed to produce a basis to realize a questionnaire for the quantitative research phase, administered to small and medium-sized enterprises belonging to the furniture district of Pesaro. The statistical analyzes performed in the second quantitative phase confirmed the results of qualitative research. Furthermore, through the latent class analysis (LCA), within the sample interviewed, three groups of companies whose “strategic behavior” made them homogeneous within them and heterogeneous among themselves, were identified. These results permitted to suggest some implications for management. Lastly, the limits of this work provide some suggestions for future researches.