The Role of Venture Capital Firms in SME Internationalization: A Network Approach

Over recent decades, several international business and entrepreneurship researchers have focused on the role that venture capital firms (VCs) play in SME internationalization (Gabrielsson et al., 2008; Ughetto, 2016). Given their small scale, SMEs that successfully internationalize are largely dependent on the personal features and experiences of their founding teams (Oviatt & McDougall, 2005), an aspect that can be compensated with advice and support received from VCs (Gompers & Lerner, 2001; McDougall et al., 2003; Fernhaber et al., 2009; Abell & Nisar, 2007).