PATTERNS OF INTERNATIONALIZATION OF SPANISH INNOVATIVE FIRMS

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the debate about the factors determining the growing internationalization of small and medium firm s originating from intermediate countries. The reason for selecting th e Spanish innovating firms consists of the interest they have for anal ysing the interaction between the characteristics they have as innovat ory agents and their behaviour regarding the global economy. The paper is developed from the following hypothesis: first, in the case of fir ms of countries with a more recent history of opening up to the intern ational economy, the patterns of overseas expansion combine different kinds of elements such as factors included in the eclectic theory and tacit components of the company advantages. Second, in the trajectorie s followed by those firms some accumulative learning patterns can be f ound. The starting point of this research is a previous one carried ou t on the patterns of technological innovation of Spanish innovatory fi rms. On this basis, I have combined two sources for obtaining relevant data. The first consists of the creation of a data bank of innovatory firms with 814 innovating companies.The second source is a survey car ried out with those firms. The statistical analysis is made through th e application of discriminant analysis and legit models. They are good tools for systematic comparison between clusters and allow me to foll ow a stepwise method for a close study of increasing complex internati onal activity. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.