From 29 June to 3 July 2026, the SOS-GVC research team took part in the Academy of International Business (AIB) Annual Meeting in Manchester, UK. The conference brought together the international business research community to discuss emerging challenges and transformations in the global economy.
Within the track “Global Value Chains, Networks, and Operations”, the team took part in an interactive discussion session on resilient internationalization in a turbulent global environment, presenting ongoing research on how micro and small enterprises navigate international markets in periods of economic disruption.
Stop-and-Go Internationalization in Times of Crisis: Evidence from Italian Micro and Small Enterprises
Jacopo Canello, Gianluca Capone, Fabio Landini, Cristina Re and Luigi Tredicine
University of Parma
Presented by Cristina Re.
The paper was presented in the session “Resilient Internationalization in a Turbulent Global Environment”, chaired by Katerina Boncheva (Cardiff University).
The study investigates intermittent exporting among micro and small enterprises during the 2008–2015 crisis period. It shows how international production linkages and export-oriented local environments can facilitate firms’ return to foreign markets, while stop-and-go exporters experience smaller revenue declines than other firms. The findings suggest that temporary export interruption can represent an adaptive internationalization strategy in periods of heightened uncertainty.
