How Do SMEs Respond to Deglobalization? Insights from Italian SMEs in the Interwar Period (1936-1943)

This study investigates how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) respond to deglobalization and economic nationalism, using historical evidence from fascist Italy, a period of autarky and restricted international trade. While prior research has focused primarily on larger firms, especially multinational enterprises (MNEs), the strategic behaviour of the resource-constrained category of SMEs remains underexplored in both management and business history literatures. Drawing on archival material from the Istituto Mobiliare Italiano and historical sources, we identify four adaptive strategies: (i) market repositioning, (ii) national re-branding, (iii) disguising core business, and (iv) mobilizing formal ties. Our findings reveal that, while SMEs draw from the strategic playbook of MNEs, they implement these strategies in distinct ways due to internal and external constraints. In doing so, they exhibit both strategic and political ambidexterity to adapt. They leverage their distinctive flexibility and agility by mobilizing internal capabilities (e.g., brand identity), and resources (e.g., formal international ties). This enables SMEs’ market repositioning and allows them to achieve symbolic alignment with government agendas through reshaping narratives to secure critical resources. Ultimately, this leads to bolder strategies like pivoting from global niche to broader domestic markets. This framework offers insights into SMEs’ resilience under deglobalization and economic nationalism.