Internationalisation as an integrated process: evidence from SMEs in Lusophone Africa

This study focuses on extant internationalization theories, attempting to elucidate the entry modes adopted by Lusophone African SMEs. It offers a critical overview of the leading frameworks, focusing on their primary attributes, chal- lenges, and pitfalls in depicting similarities in the international- ization process and shortfalls in entry mode predictions. Based on the author’s challenges when investigating 29 Lusophone African SMEs in Mozambique and Angola in 2016, an inte- grated and more holistic framework for internationalization is proposed. It considers advancements in ICT and business digitalization via the internet, web-enabled tools, and platforms, including social media and online professional communities of practices.Accepted manuscrip