# Assessing SMEs' Internationalisation Strategies in Action
## 4 Conclusions  
In this paper, we discussed the factors affecting SMEs in the internationalisation process. A systematic literature review was conducted to provide an in-depth understanding of SMEs internationalisation and to highlight the existing research gaps. The review process consisted of two main phases: papers' selection and content analysis. The Scopus and Web of Science databases were adopted, and a total of 161 papers were selected for the subsequent analyses. The analysis of the previous contributions allows us to identify four topic areas (i.e., factors influencing internationalisation, internationalisation models, internationalisation barriers and the impact of internationalisation on performance). Further, the papers were analysed based on the phases of the internationalisation process (i.e., extension, penetration, and integration), the intersection between the topic areas and the phases of the internationalisation process enabled authors to identify and underline 12 content areas (Section 3). The analysis of the 12 different areas identified has shown several lacks in the body of literature and enabled us to formulate seven research questions. Notably, four research gaps were identified. The first gap was found in models and theories formulated for Internalisation Growth/ Consolidation (Area 6). The second gap is associated with barriers and obstacles related to the early stage of Early Entrance/Development (Area 8). There is no discussion on the barriers related to resources such as technology, human resources, and materials. The third gap is concerned with Area 1 concerning the performance to the phase of input Early Entrance / Development. The gap is related to the discussion of technical performance (e.g., innovation, and growth in specific skills) and the economic-financial performance (e.g., profits, sales growth, cost reduction) Concerning the stage of the process in question. The fourth gap is associated with the impact of internationalisation on performance during Internalisation Growth/Consolidation (Area 12). There is no debate on the impact of international supply chain disturbances that jeopardizes performance on international markets and calls for resilience. Table 16 presents the research questions associated with each research gap identified.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c} \hline \hline
**Performance** & **References** \\ \hline Economic–financial & [153, 155, 158, 161, 162, 166–168] \\ \hline Market & [152, 156–158, 169–172] \\ \hline Technical & [154, 159, 163–165, 164, 165, 163] \\ \hline Organisational & [156, 160, 163, 164, 174–179] \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 15: Impact of international integration on performance.  
Finally, this study is not without limitations, some of which can be addressed by future research. This review provides an overview of the topic investigated, but does not deploy an analytical framework and does not generate detailed hypotheses for empirical analysis. Also, the criteria adopted in the review protocol may exclude a few important related papers on SMEs internationalisation. Therefore, limitations of the presented study arise from the subjectivity of the content analysis method, from the background of involved researchers.  
Finally, the review conducted in this paper is based on a systematic review approach; therefore, an interesting research direction to be further investigated relates to the adoption of a different review methodology. Specifically, a bibliometric analysis of the literature or additional statistical analysis can be used to triangulate or complement the results achieved in this paper.  
Conceptualization, R.C.; Methodology, P.C., R.C., S.; Formal Analysis, F.C., P.C., R.C., E.O., S.S., S.; Investigation, F.C. and R.C.; Review & Editing, P.C., E.O., S.S.; Supervision, R.C. Authors are listed in alphabetic order. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. This research received no external funding  
The authors declare no conflict of interest