This contribution aims to analyze the choice of foreign market entry modes between joint ventures or wholly-owned subsidiaries abroad in the context of SMEs. This research is based on a series of semistructured interviews conducted over the period July 2010 to September 2010 with 10 French internationalized SMEs. We adopted a qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) method initiated by Ragin (1987) which is well-suited to study a small number of cases, particularly in a comparative approach. We show that the implantation of an industrial subsidiary in a country culturally perceived as being away from France is made by using a local partnership, while wholly-owned subsidiaries are made by SMEs as part of a pattern of rapid internationalization.