Internationalisation Strategies of Service Firms in Vienna. An Analysis of Individual Data

Vienna's geographical location offers service firms characterised by a limited market range an opportunity to penetrate dynamic sales markets in the new EU member countries. This applies in particular to knowledge-intensive services, whose internationalisation efforts have so far attracted few empirical studies. This study analyses individual level data on the international activities of Vienna-based service firms with a limited market range which can provide services by posting workers abroad. Compared to firms in other border regions of Austria, Viennese companies tend to be more internationalised, which may be at least partly explained by differences in the economic structures. Viennese businesses in the sectors studied are nevertheless more frequently active in the new EU member countries and use their Viennese location more often as a nodal point for trading with Western and Eastern Europe. What's more, Vienna has a significant pool of services willing to go international. These small and very small operations, typically knowledge-intensive, are identified as a target group for economic policy measures.