The Internationalization Process and the Impact in Firm Resources: The Case of Casa Valduga Winery

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyze the internationalization process and its impact in the company’s resources. A case study was developed for this purpose in a winery, the Casa Valduga, located in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The main proposition of this research is that the internationalization process, besides influencing the development of new strategic resources, required for competing in the international market, also influences the company’s domestic strategy. The results of the study confirmed this proposition and indicated that the resources developed for the internationalization strategy positively influenced its competitiveness in the domestic market. The main impact of the internationalization efforts was on the human and organizational resources of the company. This study, besides expanding the still incipient empirical base of the internationalization process of Brazilian firms, contributes to broaden the analytical perspective on internationalization strategy by including the impact of the company’s internationalization resource base on the capacity to create competitive advantage in the local market as well. These results have important practical implication for managers in strategic decision making concerning the internationalization process.