On of the current challenges taken on by governments, professional organizations and the business community is how to create conditions to benefit from the economic opening, and use it in a way that will enable Brazil to become an important international business player. In the last decade, there have been many clear demonstrations that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is an important component of a national and local development strategy. The aim of this research was to analyze, through reports of three different experiences, how the process of Portuguese Direct Investment (PDI) in Ceará occurs, linking it to the behavioral focus of the Uppsala Model, and then to the Nordic School of International Business. We observed that in order to understand the PDI, the role is emphasized, of the entrepreneurs, the establishment of relationships in personal, business and inter-organizational networks and the influence, in these networks, of political actors. The narratives analyzed show that these dimensions are linked and enhanced through the phenomenon of "psychic distance" and its paradox, reducing the uncertainties as to what lies beyond international boundaries.