Intangible assets, international experience and the internationalisation speed of retailers

Purpose – The study draws on the Resource- and Knowledge Based Views of the firm to explain the internationalization speed of retail firms. Design/methodology/approach – We use a panel data set of 144 international retailers over a 10-year period and employ Feasible Generalised Least Squares analysis in order to assess the effect of intangible assets and international experience on internationalisation speed. Findings – Our results support direct effects of intangible assets and international experience, while the latter effect is also moderated by firms' home-region concentration. Research limitations/implications – The study investigates the determinants of retailers’ internationalization speed. While research stresses the positive performance effects of rapid internationalisation, future research should investigate the role of internationalisation speed for the performance of retailers empirically. Our findings support the usefulness of adopting a Resource/Knowledge Based View for explaining internationalisation speed. Originality/value – There has been very little research into the speed with which firms in general and service sector firms in particular expand their operations internationally. Through a theory-based analysis of a newly-created panel data set this study provides novel insights into the factors that lead retail firms to internationalise rapidly.