Competition in international markets was traditionally the realm of large companies, with smaller firms tending to remain local or regional. Internationalisation was an expansion option of interest to some enterprises, but seldom was it a competitive necessity. Many opted to avoid the uncertainties of competing in foreign markets, and simply kept their firms small and local. Traditional internationalisation theories, therefore, focused mainly on large multinational corporations, and were less pertinent to smaller firms. With the liberalisation of trade, however, domestic firms are threatened by international competitors that are penetrating formerly protected markets. Nowadays, internationalisation affects everyone, whether or not they wish to internationalise themselves. The threats and opportunities of internationalisation must be addressed.

Globalisation is transforming the competitive environment of small and large players alike. As a result, internationalisation issues will continue to be increasingly important to business. Public policy agendas already include programmes to help entrepreneurs become successful at internationalisation. There is a growing need to understand internationalisation in the context of entrepreneurship, as well as large multinationals.

Knowledge of how, when and why firms internationalise - either incrementally or not - will surely be the focus of energetic researchers. Yet, up to now, academia has been lacking a journal dedicated to internationalisation issues. To fill this niche, the aforementioned editorial team wishes to offer an outlet for high-quality research addressing the opportunities and challenges intrinsic to internationalisation.

The primary audience for this journal will be researchers of entrepreneurship and international business. In addition, readership is certain to include business-people and policy-makers.

The editors invite submissions that analyse internationalisation, combining theore tical and empirical work. Researchers will be encouraged to conduct comparative studies, and to evaluate competing theories. The composition of the editorial team - including experts in international business and experts in entrepreneurship - is designed to avoid editorial bias. Every effort will be made to reach a first decision about a submission, within sixty days.

Officially cited as: J Int Entrep