INTERNATIONALIZATION OF COMPANIES: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW SUPPORTED BY BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS

Objective: Conduct a comprehensive analysis of the internationalization of companies (IE) over the past three decades, exploring topics ranging from alliance strategies to mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Theoretical Framework: Over the past decades, the study of internationalization has gained importance with the reduction of border barriers. Hamel (1991) highlighted the role of international strategic alliances in promoting competition and learning. Multinational companies from emerging markets have become relevant, and early international expansion has driven competitiveness and innovation. Method: The methodology combines Systematic Literature Review (SLR) and Bibliometric Analysis (BA), using VOSviewer 1.6.20 software to explore networks of co-authorship, co-citation, and co-occurrence in 246 articles published between 1991 and 2023. Results and Discussion: The results revealed challenges in internationalization, such as selecting suitable partners and mitigating risks. Understanding the factors of success or failure is crucial. Opportunities include consistent product strategies that enhance global competitiveness and strategic collaborations, such as international alliances and joint ventures, which promote learning and innovation. Organizational learning offers a sustainable competitive advantage. Implications of the Research: The practical and theoretical implications discussed provide insights into how the results may influence practices in the field of alliances within a globalized business environment. Originality/Value: This study adopts an interdisciplinary approach, highlighting the importance of contextual, cultural, institutional, and economic factors in understanding the complexities of international strategic alliances.


INTRODUCTION
Enterprise Internationalization (IE) has gained increasing relevance in the scientific community and in higher-level studies, reflected by the significant increase in the number of publications over the last decades that explore this phenomenon (Kim and Parkhe, 2009;Roque, Alves and Raposo, 2019;Ipsmiller and Dikova, 2021).Recent literature presents high-quality studies on IE, addressing topics such as the impact of global talent management on multinationals (Chatterjee et al., 2023), the role of international strategic alliances (IEAs) in business group affiliates (Mishra et al., 2023), the influence of IEAs on biopharmaceuticals (Esmaelnezhad et al., 2023), and behavioral factors for IEA success (Gehrisch and Süß, 2023).
Companies seek partnerships such as M&A and other cross-border activities for diverse reasons, such as access to new markets, adoption of innovative technologies or portfolio expansion (Li, Redding and Xie, 2021).Johnson et al. (2020) and Li, Redding and Xie (2021) identified four cross-border M&A modalities, including mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and alliances.In addition, companies that adopt consistent product strategies in different countries tend to be more successful than those with more varied strategies (Li, Qian and Qian, 2014).
In practice, the terms "merger" and "acquisition" are often used interchangeably, giving rise to the common abbreviation F&A (Johnson et al., 2020).In this way, M&A enables the combination of unique and complementary capabilities and resources, such as geographic market coverage, product diversification and technological knowledge (Kim and Parkhe, 2009).Johnson et al. (2020) discuss international strategy as a set of options to operate beyond the country of origin, while Li, Qian and Qian (2014)  4 challenges in new markets.Johnson et al. (2020) emphasize the importance of realistically assessing the scope of internationalization in specific industries.Moreover, companies with experience in acquisitions, high-level management teams and good corporate governance are more likely to participate in cross-border M&A (Li, Redding and Xie, 2021), although negative experiences may discourage future international incursions (Martins, Farinha and Ferreira, 2022).
This study proposes a comprehensive analysis of IE over the past three decades, exploring everything from alliances strategies to mergers and acquisitions.In addition to highlighting the growing relevance of this field in academic research, it seeks to identify challenges and opportunities associated with IE, providing an up-to-date view of global business dynamics.
The conduct of this study aims to systematize and critically analyze existing knowledge about IE, through a Systematic Literature Review (RSL).This approach not only identifies gaps, but also provides a solid foundation for future academic research and management practices.The application of bibliometric mapping techniques in 246 selected articles at Scopus Base in the period between 1991 and 2023 aims to synthesize discoveries and provide insights useful for strategic decisions in a competitive global environment.
In this sense, the overall objective of the study was to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the Internationalization of Enterprises (IE) over the last three decades, exploring topics ranging from alliances strategies to mergers and acquisitions.In addition, the challenges and opportunities associated with IE were identified, providing an up-to-date view of global business dynamics.

THEORETICAL FRAME
In recent decades, the study of the internationalization of companies has gained importance (Kim and Parkhe, 2009).There has been an increase in interest in research on International Strategic Alliances (AEI) (Martins;Farinha & Ferreira, 2022).Restrictions imposed by borders and distances between countries eased until the mid-1990s, but grew later, especially in relation to distance (Morescalchi, 2015).Hamel (1991), in his seminal paper on the subject, studied how IEDs affect competition between companies and promote learning between partners.According to Christoffersen (2013), who highlighted the broad aspects of AEI, the motivation to collaborate through joint ventures became popular as a way into new countries.
It is noted that in recent years, multinational companies from emerging markets, from developing countries, have become important in the global economy, often characterized by a lack of international business experience and institutional disadvantages of their home country (Buckley, 2018).
Expanding internationally from an early age is crucial to boost business competitiveness, enabling the incorporation of new product concepts, technology and innovation, as well as engagement in export operations (Bianchi et al., 2017).This approach is essential to ensure the survival and continuous development of companies (Martins;Farinha & Ferreira, 2022).
Rodríguez and Nieto (2012) already said that innovation helps companies develop new products and services more attractive to international customers, as well as improving efficiency and competitiveness in international markets.Despite the challenges, Kaur et al. (2019) believe that cognitive computing can help achieve organizational ambidestria and improve overall performance.Kim and Parkhe (2009) refer to competitiveness as the similarity of partners in terms of their market positions, products or services.The similarity of cooperation refers to the similarity of partners in terms of organizational resources, capabilities or cultures.They found that competitive similarity has a negative effect on alliance results, mitigated by relational efforts, while the similarity of cooperation has a positive effect.
Other scholars have focused on how partner characteristics impact partner selection or alliance results (Martins;Farinha & Ferreira, 2022).From the perspective of employees' perception of F&A, Edwards and Edwards (2012) identified two factors: the company's factors, positively associated with employees' perceptions, such as perceived strategic adequacy, communication and management commitment; and the country's factors, related to institutional trust, industrial relations systems and national culture.
In a survey conducted by Li, Redding and Xie (2021), several organizational characteristics were identified in cross-border M&A, such as the company's age, size, ownership structure, resource availability, marketing, technology intensity, export intensity and membership in business groups, all with distinct impacts on the propensity for cross-border business.
While global strategic partnerships can help organizations achieve organizational ambidestria, the ability to pursue simultaneously exploration and exploitation strategies (Kaur et al., 2019), they challenge the traditional view that exploration and exploitation are complementary strategies.They argue that exploration and exploitation are separate strategies, 6 with different backgrounds and performance consequences (Nielsen and Gudergan, 2012).

METHODOLOGY
The methodology is composed of two methods of analysis: the first deals with a Systematic Review of Literature (RSL), with a qualitative approach (Galvão and Pereira, 2014) and the second deals with a Bibliometric Analysis (AB), with a quantitative focus (Soares et al., 2016).
As proposed by Galvão and Pereira (2014), the RSL used in this study consists of six phases that cover the progress and the realization of the review: 1) elaboration of the research question, 2) literature search of articles related to this question, 3) selection of articles, 4) extraction of data, 5) evaluation of methodological quality and 5) synthesis of results.
This search was carried out by means of a consultation with the Scopus scientific base, due to its relevance and comprehensiveness in the selection of published articles.Keywords were used in the search string and the following filters were applied: "periodic", "final article", "business, administration and accounting", "article" and "english", as shown in figure 1. Alliances') Worldwide Collaborative Ventures") OR TITLE-ABS-KEY ("International Mergers and Acquisitions")) AND (LIMIT-TO (SRCTYPE,"j")) AND (LIMIT-TO (PUBSTAGE,"final") AND (LIMIT-TO (SUBJAREA,"BUSI")) AND (LIMIT-TO (DOCTYPE,"ar")) AND (LIMIT-TO (LANGUAGE,"English")) Source: Scopus (2023).
After applying the search string, the search returned 246 articles, whose data was exported in CSV format for further analysis by the software VOSviewer1.6.20.It was therefore decided to include all the articles published in the period from 1991 to 2023.This choice was made in an attempt to cover the totality of articles published in various magazines, without giving priority to specific periodicals.From this, a spatial reading was carried out to identify, in the abstracts and in the introduction, those that did not meet the established criteria as presented in Table 1.In addition, it analyzes co-authorship, citations, bibliographic coupling and cocitation in three representations: network, overlap or density (Arruda, 2022).
Thus, Bibliometric Analysis (AB) is a method of quantitative analysis for scientific research (Soares et al., 2016), which contributes to measuring the contribution of scientific knowledge in a given area, and bibliometric techniques are generally applied to the most cited articles, focusing mainly on cocitations, coauthorships and cooccurrence.
Cocitation studies analyze the cooccurrence of citations between authors or documents, revealing the knowledge structure of an area (Grácio and De Oliveira, 2014).Each article in the analysis had at least nine citations per author, resulting in 18 articles and 4 clusters.In coauthorship, they were considered authors with at least one article, generating seven articles in four clusters.The cooccurrence involved five keywords, resulting in five clusters.
After this selection phase, the records that make up the study were analyzed with the focus on the most relevant information, aiming to identify the objectives of the respective studies, methodologies, conclusions and contributions.This process involved emphasizing the key aspects of each article.
Finally, Mendeley was used to store and manage citations of articles, making them easier to read and format references.After a detailed analysis, two documents were excluded because they were in another language, resulting in a final sample of 218 articles.This sample includes empirical (qualitative and quantitative), conceptual and theoretical studies.The final phase of RSL presents the results obtained and discusses the conclusions on the internationalization of companies, identifying challenges and opportunities.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
This section was guided by the goal of the article which was to conduct a comprehensive analysis of IE over the past three decades, exploring topics ranging from alliance strategies to M&A.In addition to highlighting the growing relevance of this field in academic research, the study seeks to identify the challenges and opportunities associated with IE, offering an up-todate view of global business dynamics.From 1990 to 2023, there was little annual variation in the number of articles, peaking in 2019 with the publication of 16 articles.The article "Competition for competence and interpartner learning within international strategic alliances", by Hamel (1991), is the most cited, with 7,967 citations so far, being recognized as one of the fundamental articles on international strategic alliances.

NETWORK AND CLUSTER ANALYSIS
To carry out the analysis of bibliometric networks in this research, the program VOSviewer 1.6.20 was used, a complementary tool that analyzes data coming from databases such as Scopus, used in this study.The program generates graphic representations through bibliometric network maps, which facilitates the interpretation of the results (Van Eck and Waltman, 2010).

Analysis of cocitation clusters
In order to identify frequently cited references together, the analysis of quotes was used, a method that identifies two references cited by a third, and the greater the number of publications in which the two references are quoted, the stronger is the ratio of quotation (Van Eck and Waltman, 2013).
Thus, it was used as a premise for this analysis that the cited reference should have at least 9 (nine) citations.Thus, the generated quote map is shown in Figure 3, where each color represents a cluster and the searches within each cluster are those that share the highest affinity.
To understand why these articles are cited together, it is essential to explore their essence and theoretical basis.The bibliographic coupling approach allows identifying similar articles that share common references (Van Eck and Waltman, 2013).The more references two publications have in common, the closer the coupling relationship between them.
Thus, Figure 3 illustrates the intensity of the relationships between the documents, grouped into 4 (four) clusters, where the proximity between the nodes indicates the strength of these relationships.As can be seen, there is a high agreement between the structure of the map and the grouping obtained using the clustering technique (Van Eck and Waltman, 2010).Accordingly, the four clusters correspond to the following thematic areas: organizational learning, knowledge absorption, strategic alliances focusing on joint ventures and their influence on In the first cluster analyzed, organizational learning (cluster green), the following main articles stand out: Parkhe (1991) explores the influence of inter-company diversity on organizational learning and the longevity of global strategic alliances.Kogut (1988) expands this reasoning by evidencing that joint ventures can be an organizational learning strategy.

Network of citation of authors of the studied works
Finally, Lumpkin and Covin (1997) focus on corporate strategy, demonstrating how organizational learning can represent a sustainable competitive advantage.
In the second cluster analyzed, which deals with knowledge absorption (red cluster), Cohen and Levinthal (1990) state that an organization's ability to absorb knowledge is directly linked to the prior knowledge it possesses in a given domain.They emphasize that the diversity of employee experiences and perspectives plays a crucial role in this context.In addition, Lyles and Salk (1996) investigate knowledge absorption in international joint ventures.In the third cluster analyzed, which deals with strategic alliances focusing on joint ventures and their influence on innovation (cluster azul), Powell, Koput and Smith-Doerr (1996) explore collaborative networks and their impact on innovation.Harrigan (1988) discusses the types of joint ventures and their success factors.Killing (1983) highlights the paradox of joint ventures: while they are seen as a way to reduce risk, access new markets and technologies, and share resources, they can also increase the risk of conflict and failure due to their complexity and management challenges.
Last cluster analyzed, addresses competitive advantage (cluster yellow).Williamson (1985) argues that contracts are key to reducing transaction costs, providing predictability and stability to economic relationships.Kogut (1988) compared transaction costs and strategic behavior in joint venture formation.Inkpen and Beamish (1997) explored the dynamics of power and knowledge in international joint ventures and their impact on the stability of these partnerships.

Analysis of clusters co-authored
Co-authored collaborations allow researchers, research institutions or countries to identify networks, establishing connections based on the number of publications they share (Van Eck and Waltman, 2013).Thus, for the co-authoring analysis, the participation of each author in at least one (1) collaborative article was considered, resulting in the four (4) clusters presented in Figure 4. Therefore, it can be observed that the collaborations between authors in research on International Strategic Alliances (IAAs) of companies are remarkably fragmented, indicating a limited number of researchers collaborating in similar areas.Within this co-authoring structure, the studies in each grouping are those that share the greatest thematic affinity, as evidenced in the four (4) clusters.
The red cluster groups researchers who analyze AEIs as a strategy to enter global markets, allowing companies to share risks and resources, acquire knowledge and reach new markets (Dacin;Hitt;Levitas, 1997;Hitt et al., 2000).Despite being a common strategy, the high failure rate is attributed to incompatibility between partners (Hitt et al., 2000).Thus, it is crucial that companies emphasize partner selection and understand their differences and similarities, essential for the success of alliances (Dacin;Hitt;Levitas, 1997;Hitt et al., 2000).Dacin, Hitt and Levitas (1997) focus on selecting partners in emerging and developed markets, while Hitt et al. (2000) examine criteria used by US and Korean managers.
The yellow cluster groups together articles that explore global business strategies, emphasizing an understanding of market particularities (Hitt et al., 1995(Hitt et al., , 1997)).The article "Understanding strategic intent in the global marketplace" analyzes how Komatsu Limited achieved global success, especially in the US, by adopting a Sun Tzu-based strategy that included customers, suppliers, partners, regulators and competitors (Hitt et al., 1995).
"Understanding the differences in Korean and U.S. executives' strategic orientations" investigates the competitive pressure faced by newly industrialized companies by opening subsidiaries in industrialized countries, highlighting the influence of executives' strategic orientations in distinct cultural and economic contexts (Hitt et al., 1997).
The green cluster explores the challenges faced by companies as they expand globally, addressing complex strategies such as greenfield investments, mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures and alliances amid international competition.It highlights the need for effective strategies to overcome competitors and establish presence in new foreign markets, especially through M&A from US companies (Collins et al., 2009).The article "Learning by doing: Crossborder mergers and acquisitions" emphasizes the importance of organizational learning and prior experience in predicting future behaviors in international M&A.
Finally, in the blue cluster, researchers highlight the complexity and challenges associated with creating value and efficiency in strategic alliances.They consider factors specific to emerging and developed markets, recognizing the influence of the institutional context on partnerships, both in the legal sphere and in regulatory institutions in financial markets (Miller et al., 2008;Li et al., 2012).
Still in the blue cluster, the article by Miller et al. (2008) addresses regulation in financial markets, focusing on market reactions to announcements of international strategic alliances by emerging market firms.The study highlights the lack of effective regulation in these markets and explores their impact on market inefficiencies and market response to such alliances.Conversely, Li et al. (2012) focuses on strategic alliances themselves, highlighting how they enable partner companies to combine resources to create value in developed and emerging markets.The study explores knowledge transfer, considering the rule of law in emerging markets, and analyzes factors such as the type of alliance and the local partner.
Therefore, the co-authored articles address several aspects and challenges related to ISSs and global expansion strategies.Each grouping (red, yellow, green and blue) focuses on a specific perspective of these themes, ranging from partner selection and strategic guidance from executives to global expansion strategies, regulation in financial markets, and the complexity of creating value in IEAs.Thus, there is a common emphasis on considering factors such as institutional, cultural, national and economic context, while analyzing these topics, indicating a holistic approach in understanding these complex business dynamics.

Analysis of clusters of co-occurrence
The analysis of the search pattern can be impacted by the frequency of a specific word, also known as cooccurrence.In this study, a minimum criterion of five (5) occurrences was  There is an association between "international strategic alliance", mentioned 107 times in the survey, and "performance", cited on 23 occasions.This connection is supported by the literature, which argues that successful international strategic alliances occur when companies select ideal partners for internationalization, which can boost companies' performance in the global marketplace by overcoming entry barriers in emerging markets.
The topic of mergers and acquisitions has been addressed on 28 occasions, suggesting that many companies choose to enter the international market through these transactions, instead of independently introducing their products and services.They choose to establish alliances with partners who are already familiar with the markets in which they operate, thus facilitating the introduction of partner company products, services and technologies.In addition, it is noted that the partnership strategy, mentioned 18 times, shows that this type of collaboration is widely adopted in emerging markets.
As identified in the various studies, in a globalized world, companies must establish international strategic alliances that optimize the value of corporate resources, fostering learning, innovation and continuous improvement for all those involved in the international alliance, with a special focus on stakeholders.

CONCLUSION
This study has conducted a comprehensive analysis of EI over the past three decades, addressing topics ranging from alliance strategies to M&A.The research revealed a significant increase in academic interest, reflected in the growing number of IE publications.Recent literature highlights topics such as global talent management, international strategic alliances and behavioral factors that influence the success of these alliances.
While there have been advances, there are still gaps in the full understanding of internationalization, such as selecting suitable partners and mitigating risk.The study identifies promising opportunities for companies to expand globally, such as consistent product strategies and strategic collaborations, including joint ventures, that promote learning and innovation.
Organizational learning provides a sustainable competitive advantage.
The analysis of quotes highlighted the role of fundamental studies, such as Parkhe (1991) on inter-business diversity and organizational learning, and Kogut (1988) on joint ventures.In the knowledge absorption cluster, Cohen and Levinthal (1990) emphasized the importance of the organization's prior knowledge.In the strategic alliances cluster, the studies of Powell, Koput and Smith-Doerr (1996) on collaboration and innovation networks were highlighted.In competitive advantage clustering, Williamson (1985) discussed the role of contracts in reducing transaction costs.
The co-authored analysis revealed four thematic clusters that offer perspectives on the challenges and nuances of the AEIs.These clusters highlight the need for a holistic approach, considering contextual and institutional factors.
The co-occurrence analysis showed a strong relationship between international strategic alliances and performance, with an emphasis on the importance of successful alliances to drive global performance, especially in emerging markets.The limitations of RSL include the exclusivity of the Scopus database, suggesting the need to explore other sources for a more complete view.Suggested new research themes include selection of target markets, management of global value networks, and innovation in international companies.
Internationalization of Companies: a Systematic Literature Review Supported by Bibliometric Analysis ___________________________________________________________________________ Rev. Gest.Soc.Ambient.| Miami | v.18.n.7 | p.1-18 | e08360 | 2024.8 The RSL showed a gradual growth in the number of articles published on the subject of the internationalization of companies, from the beginning of the century until 2023, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2
Figure 2 Number of articles published per year Source: Extracted from VOSviewer by authors (2023).

Figure 5
Figure 5Keyword cooccurrence network analysis