The use of public support on internationalization activities, firms competencies and internationalization requirements

Abstract

In particularly in times of budget constraints governments should analyze in detail all aspects related to the implementation of their public support to enterprises. With an Heckman selection model and data collected through a survey to Portuguese firms, we test which variables may affect awareness and use of the public support to internationalization. The results show that firms’ competencies positively affect awareness and negatively affect use of public support. Otherwise, the requirements of internationalization positively affect both the awareness and the use of public support.