| Summary: | Internationalisation is a highly complicated process. It has been studied for decades. However, nowadays not only multinational enterprises (MNEs) but also small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are undertaking this process. Their experience has not yet been studied in detail. As SMEs are highly individual and do not follow any particular theory, this research looks at how they actually undertake internationalisation. The practice approach can be extremely helpful in analysing the internationalisation process of SMEs in order to understand how it works, and where there is space for improvement. This is because the practice method analyses what firms actually do on a routine basis that leads to internationalisation.
In a single case study of a German highly specialised medical device manufacturer, this research looks into five subthemes of internationalisation: networking, strategy, leadership, cultural differences, and process. As a result, it identifies communication practices, innovation practices, strategic planning practice and international selling practice as four main practices that influence the internationalisation process of a SME. Moreover, it discovers an interconnection between these practices, which means that SMEs have to be aware of the fact that by changing one practice one can change other practices too and consequently, the whole process.
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