The Evolution of Early Internationalization: A Systematic Literature Review

Early internationalizing firms (EIFs) represent a vast and various group of companies that share the main feature of beginning international activities soon after their foundation. First noted almost three decades ago, these companies have attracted the interest of scholars from different disciplines and policymakers worldwide. Over more than three decades, this phenomenon has been studied from various perspectives, exploring several topics and issues, giving rise to conceptualizations and critical theoretical reflections. Considering the rapid increase of the literature on EIFs, this chapter illustrates the research method adopted to develop a systematic literature review of 323 empirical articles on EIFs published in 1989–2023. It also describes the main characteristics of this subfield in terms of published articles, target journals, methodologies, and country of origin of sampled firms. Lastly, it introduces the macro-themes that emerged through the thematic analysis.