The case presents Marie-Pierre Bérubé, founder and CEO of KLIIN, as she reflects on her plans to internationalize her company, KLIIN. Founded in 2016 near Montreal, Quebec, KLIIN is dedicated to promoting greener consumption habits by marketing eco-friendly cleaning products such as reusable surface wipes and biodegradable soaps. The case provides an overview of KLIIN’s business model, product offering, and competitive positioning. It highlights the company’s commitment to sustainability, differentiation through innovative design, positioning as a woman-owned business, and reliance on exports as its primary means of entering foreign markets.

• Understand essential concepts related to international business strategy.
• Acquire knowledge of the challenges and opportunities associated with the international expansion of SMEs and the concept of “internationalization readiness.”
• Analyze the context of a young SME, evaluating the relevance of frameworks traditionally designed for multinational enterprises (MNEs).
• Critically analyze the company’s readiness for further internationalization by assessing its limited resources, reliance on external distributors, and current international successes.
• Evaluate the attractiveness of various regions and countries using Ghemawat’s (2001) CAGE distance framework and mobilizing recent literature on SME international market selection.
• Develop well-reasoned recommendations for the company’s internationalization strategy, including selecting the most suitable region and target market.
• Design an approach to address the challenges of SME internationalization and integrate sustainability considerations (e.g., carbon footprint) into their decision-making process.