Looking back, going forward: reflecting on research into the SME internationalisation process

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse the past decade's research into small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises, internationalisation 1999‐2009 and compare the findings to a previous review 1989‐1998 to see if research directions suggested then have been followed or not. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents observations from a content analysis of papers fitting key criteria and comparing conceptual, empirical and methodological approaches. Findings Progress has been made in some areas, for example, global and cross‐cultural coverage, multi‐sector and multi‐method approaches but in other ways there is more work to be done, for example, relevance to policy makers and longitudinal studies. Research limitations/implications This work evaluates the contribution of relevant work 1999‐2009 and once again sets challenges for future research directions. Practical implications The review provides a research agenda for the future. Originality/value The value is in the reflective nature of the approach to the topic and in attempting to highlight success and failure from the literature in the last ten years.