Internationalization research: The impact of the Carnegie School

Over the past 40 years extensive research has been conducted in both Europe and North America on the internationalization processes of firms. The present article traces the explicit and implicit impact of the work of the Carnegie School on this research. It shows that the ideas presented in March and Simon [(1958). Organizations. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.] and Cyert and March [(1963). A Behavioral Theory of the Firm. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Inc.] regarding the general approach to managers and decision-making, as well as their concepts of bounded rationality, uncertainty, and limited/problemistic search, all fit very well with empirical findings concerning such internationalization processes. The possible benefit to this research area of a more extensive use of other contributions stemming from the Carnegie School is also discussed.