Abstract:
Despite the growth in the number of NPOs operating abroad, very few studies have been
devoted to understanding the international market selection of NPOs. The objective of this
paper is to highlight the differences between the for-profit (FPO) and non-profit sectors and
thereby argue that the international market selection decisions faced by organizations
belonging to these two sectors are different. The study argues that current theories on
traditional and for-profit internationalization have to be extended if they are to be used to
predict non-profit international market selection. Further in order to highlight the critical
differences between the two sectors, the study has examined the international market selection
decisions faced by these firms and then developed propositions so that future studies might
further develop and empirically test them. As a starting point, the study argues that due to
structural differences in the two sectors NPO and FPO, in terms of mission, financing and
planning, NPOs tend to have different objectives and pursue different strategies in achieving
those objectives compared to FPOs. Furthermore, examining the existing for-profit theories
reveal that certain assumptions (e.g., opportunism) on which these theories are based can be
challenged in the non-profit context due to the sector’s unique characteristics (e.g., the profit
distribution constraint). Therefore, the study argues that certain long-held assumptions on for-
profit internationalization cannot be used in their current form to explain the behaviour of non-
profit organizations.
