THE INTERNATIONALIZATION PROCESS OF TOTVS SOFTWARE FIRM UNDER THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE BEHAVIORAL APPROACH

Global changes have led firms to the growing internationalization of their strategies. In this sense, the main objective of this work is to analyze, taking into account the theories of behavioral approach, the internationalization process of Brazilian firm TOTVS, which operates in the software industry. In order to best support the proposed analysis, three theories that make up the behavioral approach are used: Uppsala Model, networks and international entrepreneurship. Therefore, this work is characterized by qualitative bias, accomplished through a single case study that answers five basic questions of the internationalization process, according to the theoretical framework of Carneiro and Dib (2007): why, what, when, where and how the firms internationalize their activities. The results show that the internationalization movements performed by TOTVS combine, at various times, the assumptions of the theories of behavioral approach, practicing sometimes the gradualism advocated originally by the Uppsala Model and sometimes the innovative, proactive and risky behavior widespread more recently by the international entrepreneurship.