Internationalization strategies and the architectures of competences of first and late movers: A case study in the cement industry

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The aim of this paper is to understand how the internationalization strategies and processes of late mover enterprises compare with those of first movers. The theory analyzed here incorporates two contributions to the regular literature on international business. First, the internationalization approach based on first and late mover theory is seldom addressed in the literature. Second, this paper focuses on the Resource Based View (RBV) and organizational competences; even though this approach is related to traditional internationalization theories, it is very often taken as secondary. The case study methodology applied has focused on an industrial analysis that allows the comparison of two groups of companies. The cement industry was selected as the object of the research, more specifically the first mover, Lafarge, and the late movers CEMEX from Mexico and Votorantim. An analysis of the cases has shown that the architectures of competences of first and late movers are different in various categories, thus suggesting that multinationals from emerging markets should explore unique competences for internationalization strategies and avoid a follower strategy.