Rezende, Julio Francisco Dantas deCosta Júnior, João Florêncio da2019-01-092019-01-092018-11-27COSTA JÚNIOR, João Florêncio da. Um estudo sobre as barreiras no processo de internacionalização das empresas incubadas em Natal/RN. 2018. 142f. Dissertação (Mestrado em Engenharia de Produção) - Centro de Tecnologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, 2018.https://repositorio.ufrn.br/jspui/handle/123456789/26441Due to the global reality of constant transformations and increased competitiveness, wherein organizations become progressively more dynamic and innovative; there is a constant need for companies and entrepreneurs to find alternatives to internationalize their business models as a strategy not only of expansion, but also survival. This reality is imperative not exclusively to large corporations, but also to small and medium enterprises that can no longer rely on their local market to guarantee their existence neither have the competitive advantages of large scale organizations, thus being prone to encounter several barriers throughout the internationalization process. Business incubators have a seminal role in the internationalization process of incubated companies, offering to entrepreneurs the tools, know-how and facilities for international development and expansion. Following these premises, the present work endeavours to identify, from the local entrepreneurs’ perspective, the barriers to the process of internationalization of the companies incubated in Natal/RN. There were also two further objectives: (1) to evaluate the perspective of business incubators’ managers about the support given by their organizations for the internationalization of incubated businesses, (2) to asses which companies are already following a strategy of internationalization, and (3) to propose viable strategies to expand these businesses internationally and maximize the efficiency of incubators. The research can be classified as exploratory and descriptive, as it was sought to analyse the existing barriers to the internationalization of local incubated businesses from the entrepreneurs’ perspective – which had not been done before – and subsequently to describe facts and phenomena about the reality of these local organizations and their perspectives on the international market through the analysis of quantitative and qualitative variables. Based on the bibliographical and documentary research, it was built a theoretical framework about the existing barriers to the internationalization of incubated companies, which in turn, allowed for the development of a research instrument using a five-point Likert scale, in order to quantify and measure the opinions and expectations from both entrepreneurs and business incubator managers about internationalization barriers. In total, 25 businesses across three incubators were analysed: Instituto Metrópole Digital-Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte; Incubadora Tecnológica Natal Central-Instituto Federal do Rio Grande do Norte e EMPREENDEUniversidade Potiguar. As a result of that, it was possible to define the nature of the most pressing barriers faced by local entrepreneurs vis-à-vis the internationalization process into two groups: (1) External barriers increased by entrepreneurs’ and incubators’ technical limitations and (2) Strategic management barriers associated with poor networking and lack of an international expansion planning. It was also noticed that the influence of the studied business incubators on the internationalization process of the incubated businesses, albeit existing, is unsystematic and insufficient. Finally, based on the knowledge acquired, several strategy lines were proposed in order to maximize the networking process, improve innovation and knowledge management, and overcome technical limitations.Acesso AbertoInternacionalizaçãoBarreiras à internacionalizaçãoIncubadorasmasterThesisCNPQ::ENGENHARIAS::ENGENHARIA DE PRODUCAO