Approche Intégrée ou Partielle de l’Internationalisation des Firmes : Les Modèles Uppsala (1977 et 2009) face à l’Approche « International New Ventures » et aux Théories de la Firme

The firm expanding beyond its domestic market faces several issues: which country to select? Which entry mode to implement? And which criteria should be used for decisions regarding the target country and the entry mode? Many theories of the firm have addressed these issues and suggested a certain number of answers. These theories of the firm, however, have, for most of them, a partial approach to the internationalization process and to country and entry mode choice. To our knowledge, only the Uppsala model provides a joint answer to those issues and thus develops a real theory of the internationalization process. This introductory article has two objectives: first, it provides a state of the art of the Uppsala model (1977 and 2009). Second, it aims to present the questions and answers provided on one hand, by the “international new ventures” approach and on the other hand, by the theories of the firm.