Track: Business Management

Abstract

thanks to the dynamics of globalization, the worldwide economic environment has seen tremendous changes in recent decades. Similarly, Morocco has begun to open its economy, but the results have not performed as expected; the trade deficit and Morocco's loss of market share against competitors are perfect examples, because our country's supply is primarily concentrated on the European Union. Additionally, traditional markets are experiencing a certain recession, whereas emerging markets are dynamic in terms of macroeconomic conditions, which has led Morocco to diversify its export destinations.

Small and medium-sized businesses are seen as a critical source of development and vitality in all countries (Agndal, Chetty, 2007; Todd, Javalgi, 2007). Indeed, SMEs have captured the attention of scholars and may now be regarded a legitimate subject of study. Ribau, Moreira, and Raposo have recently underlined the rising internationalization of small and medium-sized firms (SMEs), as indicated by (Child ; 2022), as their potential to conduct business abroad has been regarded (HSBC, 2016). Internationalization has been defined as a cycle as well as the activities that businesses engage in to enter foreign markets (Ribau et al., 2018). Internationalization, according to Welch and Luostarinen (1988), is "a more prevalent technique of broadening participation to global responsibilities."

As a cycle, it is not assured that the internationalization of SMEs follows a regular pattern of stages.  On the flipside, it has been seen that varied circumstances provide successions of differentiated chances (Jones, 1999). In this article, which focuses on the literature review of SMEs' internationalization, we began by listing the various definitions of the concept of internationalization, and then we listed the various approaches such as the U-model, the I-model, Internationalization through economics, Internationalization through networks, finally we highlight the limitations of each model.

Key words: Internationalization; SME; Literature study; Internationalization methodologies; Limitations