Resumo

Internationalisation involves increased participation in global markets through various mechanisms, including FDI, joint ventures, IPOs, technology exchange, and exports, affecting a range of organisations from SMEs to MNEs, universities, and government agencies. This process creates a global business ecosystem, enhancing competitiveness through collaboration, knowledge sharing, and innovation. Export Promotion agencies (EPAs) play a crucial role in the internationalisation ecosystem by promoting products and services abroad and attracting FDI, whilst mobilising diverse stakeholders.

Despite extensive research on the correlation between internationalisation, support mechanisms, and company performance, significant gaps remain in the literature, particularly regarding internationalisation ecosystems and the role of EPAs. This study aims to address these gaps by analysing how ApexBrasil influences and shapes the Brazilian internationalisation ecosystem. The research seeks to identify emerging patterns, meaningful relationships, and unexplored perspectives within this context.

This study explores internationalization ecosystems (INT-E), a framework integrating business, entrepreneurial, innovation, and digital ecosystem concepts. Business ecosystems provide the economic foundation, while entrepreneurial ecosystems foster innovation and high-growth ventures. Innovation ecosystems emphasize knowledge creation and exchange, and digital ecosystems enable advanced technology and collaboration. These interrelated ecosystems create a synergistic environment shaping international business interactions.

This qualitative research explores ApexBrasil's role within the Brazilian internationalization ecosystem. A grounded theory approach guided data collection through semi-structured interviews and documental analysis. Content and thematic analysis combined a priori categories (literature) with a posteriori categories (interviews). Iramuteq and ChatGPT-4 software aided analysis and reduced subjectivity. The iterative process refined the interview protocol and focused on emerging themes to develop a theory on the institutional role of ApexBrasil in the Brazilian internationalization ecosystem.

The results seems to validate the Internationalisation Ecosystem (INT-E) model previously adopted by the authors, comprising four Macro-Categories: Business, Entrepreneurial, Innovation, and Platform Ecosystems. These categories were coded and their frequency analysed in the interviews. The interview results expanded this framework, revealing new a posteriori categories specific to ApexBrasil, adding new themes to the internationalisation ecosystem analysis, such as regional development, gender entrepreneurship, and presidential diplomacy.

ApexBrasil plays a pivotal role in fostering strategic alliances and knowledge transfer, significantly contributing to building collaborative partnerships to enhance Brazil's internationalisation ecosystem. The research highlights ApexBrasil's substantial role in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, emphasizing local support, global perspectives, educational initiatives, and the growth of startups. Digitalization emerges as a key theme, with a strong emphasis on digital transformation and strategic integration of digital platforms for marketing and innovative business models.

The findings suggest that ApexBrasil plays a pivotal role in fostering strategic alliances and knowledge transfer, indicating a significant involvement in building collaborative partnerships to enhance Brazil's global presence. The research highlights ApexBrasil's substantial role in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, emphasising local support, global perspectives, educational initiatives, and the growth of startups. Digitalization emerges as a key theme, with a strong emphasis on digital transformation, adoption of digital technologies, and strategic integration of digital platforms for marketing