The article aims at identifying the strategic and organizational determinants that influence the degree of internationalization of the firm, concerning the extent and the distribution of the operations carried out in the foreign market. It is also intended to reveal which are the determinants that affect the process related to the formation of the international strategies. A quantitative study was carried out with the Brazilian companies in the manufacturing sector that develop international business through different ways, from the export to direct foreign investment. The findings enhance that the organizational factors associated with the size of the company influence the international strategic process of the companies researched significantly, and the development of this process is marked out by rational and centralizing elements. The results showed that the degree of internationalization in which the companies researched in this study are has been influenced by the international experience, by deliberate strategy formation mode (top-down) and by the set up of international partnerships.
Internationalization; international business; strategic formation process; organizational characteristics; internationalization degree of the firm
