Internationalization pathways and the performance of SMEs
dc.contributor.author | Fernández Olmos, Marta | |
dc.contributor.author | Díez Vial, Isabel | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2023-06-18T06:03:23Z | |
dc.date.available | 2023-06-18T06:03:23Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2015-04 | |
dc.description.abstract | Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of the chosen specific internationalization pathway on the relationship between internationalization and firm performance. Design/methodology/approach – This paper analyses the internationalization pathway among small- and medium-sized enterprises which internationalize through exporting and are more limited in terms of the resources they can leverage across markets. Findings – Empirical evidence obtained from a sample of wineries in La Rioja shows that the internationalization – export performance relationship is characterized by a U-shaped curve for firms with a gradual internationalization pathway, and an S-shaped curve for firms with an accelerated internationalization pathway. Research limitations/implications – This empirical study on the impact of export intensity on performance has acknowledged the importance of costs caused by the liability of foreignness and the transaction and coordination costs involved in each market expansion process. However, it has not examined the effect of differences in absorptive and coordination capabilities at the firm level. Practical implications – The findings about the role of the specific internationalization pathway in driving export intensity and performance appear to be relevant from a public-policy perspective. Local policies aimed at promoting exports have been widely based on the argument that firms can improve their performance through increasing their level of international sales. However, empirical evidence shows that these efforts may not work as well as was thought, unless combined with the right market expansion pathway and the optimal level of exports associated with this international market expansion. Social implications – Most studies on the effect of international market expansion on firm performance have not considered the influence of the specific market expansion pathway chosen. In taking this factor into account, this paper contributes to the existing body of work by developing an integrative theoretical framework that explores how the pathway of internationalization impacts on firms’ performance. Originality/value – Most studies on the effect of international market expansion on firm performance have not considered the influence of the specific market expansion process chosen. In taking this factor into account, this paper contributes to the existing body of work by developing an integrative theoretical framework that explores how the process of international market expansion impacts on firms’ performance. | |
dc.description.department | Depto. de Organización de Empresas | |
dc.description.faculty | Fac. de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales | |
dc.description.refereed | TRUE | |
dc.description.sponsorship | Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN) | |
dc.description.sponsorship | Universidad Complutense de Madrid | |
dc.description.sponsorship | Universidad de Zaragoza | |
dc.description.status | pub | |
dc.eprint.id | https://eprints.ucm.es/id/eprint/61043 | |
dc.identifier.citation | Aaby, N.E. and Slater, S.F. (1989), “Management influences on export performance: a review of the empirical literature 1978-88”, International Marketing Review, Vol. 6 No. 4, pp. 7-26. Aiken, L.S. and West, S.G. (1991), Multiple Regression: Testing and Interpreting Interactions, Sage Publications, Newbury Park, CA. Anderson, E. (1985), “The salesperson as outside agent or employee: a transaction cost analysis”, Marketing Science, Vol. 4 No. 3, pp. 234-254. Andersson, S. and Wictor, I. (2003), “Innovative internationalisation in new firms: born globals – the Swedish case”, Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Vol. 1 No. 3, pp. 249-276. Armstrong, S. and Overton, T. (1977), “Estimating nonresponse bias in mail surveys”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 14 No. 3, pp. 396-402. Aulakh, P.S., Kotabe, M. and Teegen, H. (2000), “Export strategies and performance of firms from emerging economies: evidence from Brazil Chile, and Mexico”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 43 No. 3, pp. 342-361. Bardaji, I. and Mili, S. (2009), “Prospective trends in Wine export marktes- export views from Spain”, paper presented at the International Association of Agricultural Economists Conference, 16-22 August, Beijing. Bartlett, C.A. and Ghoshal, S. (1992), “What is a global manager?”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 70 No. 5, pp. 124-132. Bell, J., McNaughton, R. and Young, S. (2001), “‘Born-again global’ firms. An extension to the ‘born global’ phenomenon”, Journal of International Management, Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 173-189. Bell, J., McNaughton, R., Young, S. and Crick, D. (2003), “Towards an integrative model of small firm internationalization”, Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Vol. 1 No. 4, pp. 339-362. Belso-Martínez, J.A. (2006), “Do industrial districts influence export performance and export intensity? Evidence for Spanish SMEs’ internationalization process”, European Planning Studies, Vol. 14 No. 6, pp. 791-810. Brouthers, K., Brouthers, L. and Werner, S. (2003), “Transaction cost-enhanced entry mode choices and firm performance”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 24 No. 12, pp. 1239-1248. Brouthers, K. and Nakos, G. (2004), “SME entry mode choice and performance: a transaction cost perspective”, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Vol. 28 No. 3, pp. 229-247. Brown, T. (2006), Confirmatory Factor Analysis for Applied Research, Guildford, New York, NY. Chari, M., Devaraj, S. and David, P. (2007), “International diversification and firm performance: role of information technology investments”, Journal of World Business, Vol. 42 No. 2, pp. 184-197. Chen, H.L. and Hsu, W.T. (2009), “Family ownership, board independence and R&D investment”, Family Business Review, Vol. 22 No. 4, pp. 347-362. Chiao, Y.C., Yang, K.P. and Yu, C.M.J. (2006), “Performance, internationalization, and firm-specific advantages of SMEs in a newly-industrialized economy”, Small Business Economics, Vol. 26 No. 5, pp. 475-492. Cohen, W.M. and Levinthal, D.A. (1990), “Absorptive Capacity: a new perspective on learning and innovation”, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 35 No. 1, pp. 128-152. Cohen, W.M. and Levinthal, D.A. (1994), “Fortune favors the prepared firm”, Management Science, Vol. 40 No. 2, pp. 227-251. Contractor, F.J., Kumar, V. and Kundu, S.K. (2007), “Nature of the relationship between international expansion and performance: the case of emerging market firms”, Journal of World Business, Vol. 42 No. 4, pp. 401-417. Contractor, F.J., Kundu, S.K. and Hsu, C. (2003), “A three-stage theory of international expansion: the link between multinationality and performance in the service sector”, Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 34 No. 1, pp. 5-18. Covin, J.G., Slevin, D.P. and Covin, T.J. (1990), “Content and performance of growth-seeking strategies: a comparison of small firms in high- and low-technology industries”, Journal of Business Venturing, Vol. 5 No. 6, pp. 391-412. Crick, D. and Spence, M. (2005), “The internationalisation of ‘high performing’ UK high-tech SMEs: a study of planned and unplanned strategies”, International Business Review, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 167-185. Dalecki, M.G., Whitehead, J.C. and Blomquist, G.C. (1993), “Sample non-response bias and aggregate benefits in contingent valuation: an examination of early, late and non-respondents”, Journal of Environmental Management, Vol. 38 No. 2, pp. 133-143. Daniels, J.D. and Bracker, J. (1989), “Profit performance: do foreign operations make a difference?”, Management International Review, Vol. 29 No. 1, pp. 46-56. Dierickx, I. and Cool, K. (1989), “Asset stock accumulation and sustainability of competitive advantage”, Management Science, Vol. 35 No. 12, pp. 1504-1511. Dunning, J.H. (1993), Multinational Enterprises and the Global Economy, Addison Wesley, Wokingham. Ellis, P. (2008), “Does psychic distance moderate the market size- entry sequence relationship?”, Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 39 No. 3, pp. 351-369. Fan, X., Thompson, B. and Wang, L. (1999), “Effects of sample size, estimation methods, and model specification on structural equation modeling fit indexes”, Structural Equation Modeling, Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 56-83. Geringer, J., Tallman, S. and Olsen, D. (2000), “Product and international diversification among Japanese multinational firms”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 21 No. 1, pp. 51-80. Glaister, K.W. and Buckley, P.J. (1998), “Measures of performance in UK international alliances”, Organizational Studies, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 89-118. Golovko, E. (2011), “Exploring the complementary between innovation and export for SMEs’ growth”, Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 42 No. 3, pp. 362-380. Gomes, L. and Ramaswamy, K. (1999), “An empirical examination of the form of the relationship between multinationality and performance”, Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 30 No. 1, pp. 173-198. Grant, R. (1987), “Multinationality and performance among British manufacturing companies”, Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 22 No. 2, pp. 249-263. Hagen, B., Zucchella, A., Cerchiello, P. and De Giovanni, N. (2012), “International strategy and performance: clustering strategic types of SMEs”, International Business Review, Vol. 21 No. 3, pp. 369-382. Hair, J.F., Black, W.C., Babin, B.J., Anderson, R.E. and Tatham, R.L. (2006), Multivariate Data Analysis, 6th ed., Pearson Prentice Hall, NJ. Harrison, A.L., Dalkiran, E. and Elsey, E. (2000), International Business: Global Competition from a European Perspective, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Hitt, M.A., Hoskisson, R.E. and Kim, H. (1997), “International diversification: effects on innovation and firm performance in product-diversified firms”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 40 No. 4, pp. 767-798. Hsu, C.C. and Pereira, A. (2008), “Internationalization and performance: the moderating effects of organizational learning”, Omega, Vol. 36 No. 2, pp. 188-205. Hsu, W.T., Chen, H.L. and Cheng, C.Y. (2013), “Internationalization and firm performance of SMEs: the moderating effects of CEO attributes”, Journal of World Business, Vol. 48 No. 1, pp. 1-12. Hymer, S. (1976), The International Operations of National Firms: A Study of Direct Foreign Investment, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. Jantunen, A., Nummela, N., Puulamalainen, K. and Saarenketo, S. (2008), “Strategic orientations of born globals: do they really matter?”, Journal of World Business, Vol. 43 No. 2, pp. 158-179. Johanson, J. and Wiedersheim-Paul, F. (1975), “The internationalisation process of the firm – four Swedish case studies”, The Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 12 No. 3, pp. 305-322. Johanson, J. and Vahlne, J.E. (1977), “The internationalization process of the firm- A model of knowledge development and increasing foreign market commitments”, Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 23-32. Jones, M.V. and Coviello, N.E. (2005), “Internationalisation: conceptualising an entrepreneurial process of behaviour in time”, Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 36 No. 3, pp. 284-303. Jong, G. and Hauten, J.V. (2014), “The impact of MNE cultural diversity on the internationalization-performance relationship”, International Business Review, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 313-326. Karagozoglu, N. and Lindell, M. (1998), “Internationalisation of small and medium-sized technology-based firms: an exploratory study”, Journal of Small Business Management, Vol. 36 No. 1, pp. 44-59. Kim, W.C., Hwang, P. and Burgers, W.P. (1993), “Multinationals’ diversification and the risk-return trade-off”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 14 No. 4, pp. 275-286. Kirca, A., Roth, K., Hult, G. and Cavusgil, S. (2012), “The role of context in the multinationality-performance relationship: a meta-analytic review”, Global Strategic Journal, Vol. 2 No. 2, pp. 108-121. Knight, G.A. and Cavusgil, S.T. (2004), “Innovation, organizational capabilities, and the born-global firm”, Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 35 No. 2, pp. 124-141. Kontinen, T. and Ojala, A. (2012), “Internationalization pathways among family-owned SMEs”, International Marketing Review, Vol. 29 No. 5, pp. 496-518. Kuivalainen, O., Sundquist, S., Saarenketo, S. and McNaughton, R. (2012), “Internationalization patterns of small and medium-sized enterprises”, International Marketing Review, Vol. 29 No. 5, pp. 448-465. Kumar, M.S. (1984), Growth, Acquisition and Investment: An Analysis of the Growth of Industrial Firms and their Overseas Activities, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA. Lee, C.S. and Yang, Y.S. (1990), “Impact of export market expansion strategy on export performance”, International Marketing Review, Vol. 7 No. 4, pp. 41-51. Li, L. (2007), “Multinationality and performance: a synthetic review and research agenda”, International Journal of Management Review, Vol. 9 No. 2, pp. 117-139. Li, M. (2001), “Firm internationalization and economic performance: a conceptual synthesis and an empirical assessment of the Chinese experience”, in Axinn, C.N. and Mathyssens, P. (Eds), Reassessing the Internationalization of the Firm, Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, pp. 179-196. Lu, J.W. and Beamish, P.W. (2001), “The internationalization and performance of SMEs”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 22 Nos 6/7, pp. 565-586. Lu, J. and Beamish, P.W. (2004), “International diversification and firm performance: the S-curve hypothesis”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 47 No. 4, pp. 598-609. McDougall, P.P. and Oviatt, B.M. (1996), “New venture internationalization, strategic change, and performance: a follow-up study”, Journal of Business Venturing, Vol. 11 No. 1, pp. 23-40. Madsen, T.K. (1987), “Empirical export performance studies: a review of conceptualizations and findings”, in Cavusgil, S.T. and Axinn, C. (Eds), Advances in International Marketing, JAI Press, Greenwich, CT, Vol. 2, pp. 177-198. Morck, R. and Yeung, B. (1991), “Why investors value multinationality”, Journal of Business, Vol. 64 No. 2, pp. 165-187. Oviatt, B.M. and McDougall, P.P. (1994), “Toward a theory of international new ventures”, Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 25 No. 1, pp. 45-64. Papadopoulos, N. and Martín, O. (2010), “Toward a model of the relationship between internationalization and export performance”, International Business Review, Vol. 19 No. 4, pp. 388-406. Podsakoff, P., Mackenzie, S.B., Lee, J.Y. and Podsakoff, N.P. (2003), “Common method biases in behavioral research: a critical review of the literature and recommended remedies”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 88 No. 5, pp. 879-903. Podsakoff, P.M. and Organ, D.W. (1986), “Self-reports in organizational research: problems and prospects”, Journal of Management, Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 531-544. Qian, G. (2002), “Multinationality, product diversification, and profitability of emerging of US small and medium-sized enterprises”, Journal of Business Venturing, Vol. 17 No. 6, pp. 611-633. Ruigrok, W. and Wagner, H. (2003), “Internationalization and performance: an organirational learning perspective”, Management International Review, Vol. 43 No. 1, pp. 63-83. Santini, C. and Rabino, S. (2012), “Internationalisation drivers in the wine business: a RBV perspective”, International Journal of Business and Globalisation, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 7-19. Sapienza, H.J., Autio, E., George, G. and Zahra, S. (2006), “A capabilities perspective on the effects of early internationalization on firm survival and growth”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 31 No. 4, pp. 914-933. Spence, M. and Crick, D. (2006), “A comparative investigation into the internationalization of Canadian and UK high-tech SMEs”, International Marketing Review, Vol. 22 No. 5, pp. 524-548. Stevens, J. (1996), Applied Multivariate Statistics for the Social Sciences, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ. Sui, S., Yu, Z. and Baum, M. (2012), “Prevalence and longitudinal trends of early internationalisation patterns among Canadian SMEs”, International Marketing Review, Vol. 29 No. 5, pp. 519-535. Thomas, D.E. (2006), “International diversification and firm performance in Mexican firms: a curvilinear relationship?”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 59 No. 4, pp. 501-507. Verdier, S., Prange, C., Atamer, T. and Monin, P. (2010), “Internationalization performance revisited: the impact of age and speed of sales growth”, Management International, Vol. 15 No. 1, pp. 19-31. Vermeulen, F. and Barkema, H. (2001), “Learning through acquisitions”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 44 No. 3, pp. 457-476. Vermeulen, H.G. and Barkema, H.G. (2002), “Pace, rhythm and scope; process, dependence in building a profitable multinational corporation”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 23 No. 7, pp. 637-653. Wagner, H. (2004), “Internationalization speed and cost efficiency: evidence from Germany”, International Business Review, Vol. 13 No. 3, pp. 447-463. Weerawardena, J., Sullivan, G., Liesch, P. and Knight, G. (2007), “Conceptualizing accelerated internationalization in the born global firm: a dynamic capabilities perspective”, Journal of World Business, Vol. 42 No. 3, pp. 294-306. Wickramasekera, R. and Oczkowski, E. (2004), “Key determinants of the stage of internationalization of Australian wineries”, Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Vol. 21 No. 4, pp. 425-444. Zaheer, S. (1995), “Overcoming the liability of foreignness”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 38 No. 2, pp. 341-363. Zahra, S.A. (2005), “A theory of international new ventures: a decade of research”, Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 36 No. 1, pp. 20-28. Zahra, S.A. and George, G. (2002), “Absorptive capacity: a review, reconceptualization, and extension”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 27 No. 2, pp. 185-203. | |
dc.identifier.doi | DOI 10.1108/EJM-06-2012-0365 | |
dc.identifier.issn | 0309-0566 | |
dc.identifier.officialurl | http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/EJM-06-2012-0365 | |
dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/23819 | |
dc.issue.number | 3/4 | |
dc.journal.title | European Journal of Marketing | |
dc.language.iso | eng | |
dc.page.final | 443 | |
dc.page.initial | 420 | |
dc.publisher | Emerald Group Publishing | |
dc.relation.projectID | (ECO2011-29445; ECO2012-36290-C03-0) | |
dc.relation.projectID | CR35/10-A | |
dc.rights.accessRights | restricted access | |
dc.subject.keyword | Performance | |
dc.subject.keyword | Export markets | |
dc.subject.ucm | Empresas | |
dc.subject.ucm | Marketing | |
dc.subject.unesco | 5311 Organización y Dirección de Empresas | |
dc.subject.unesco | 5311.05 Marketing (Comercialización) | |
dc.title | Internationalization pathways and the performance of SMEs | |
dc.type | journal article | |
dc.volume.number | 49 | |
dspace.entity.type | Publication | |
relation.isAuthorOfPublication | f6459d3d-1f5b-4c8d-9190-a38ce6430127 | |
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery | f6459d3d-1f5b-4c8d-9190-a38ce6430127 |
Download
Original bundle
1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
- Name:
- Fernández Olmos, M.; Díez Vial; I. Internationalization pathways and the performance of SMEs.pdf
- Size:
- 244.87 KB
- Format:
- Adobe Portable Document Format