Internationalization of a Family SME. Intermediaries? How?

This dissertation studies the internationalization process of a small and medium-sized Portuguese family business and in particular the importance of the quality of the relationship between the exporting company and its local intermediaries. On the one hand it aims to understand how the concept of psychic distance between the exporter and importer influences the quality of the relationship in terms of commitment trust and satisfaction. on the other hand it seeks to understand how the quality of the relationship influences resource sharing (cooperation and communication climate); finally it seeks to understand how resource sharing affects export performance. In addition to interviews with intermediaries secondary data on export performance were taken into account as well as the different strategies applied in the internationalization process of a family business.