An investigation into the targeting of UK export assistance

Discusses the results of an empirical study undertaken in the UK using a modified six‐stage version of the Bilkey and Tesar model to investigate the usefulness of the internationalization process as a method of categorizing firms for the targeting of export assistance. The findings suggest that a although statistical differences exist between firms in the six stages of the model, many similarities are present in the major firm characteristics under study. Consequently, the results indicate that in pragmatic terms the UK government is correct in using a three‐stage model of the internationalization process to target export assistance.