No abstract

The version in the Kent Academic Repository may differ from the final published version. Users are advised to check http://kar.kent.ac.uk for the status of the paper. Users should always cite the published version of record.

This paper focuses on SMEs from the Latin American region and aims to build on existing literature on the emergence of the institution-based view in combination with the resource-based view. We contribute to existing literature by extending the application of the aforementioned theories to firms in three under-researched countries in this region. Specifically, we contribute to the extant literature by providing empirical insights on how home country–specific resources and firm-specific resources can affect the internationalization speed of SMEs in Latin American region. In order to achieve our objectives, we empirically examine the role of economic freedom (EF), prior business/international experience, and firm size on speed of internationalization. We use a dataset of Latin American SMEs, employing Poisson and negative binomial (NB) regression techniques. Our data cover three main Latin American Pacific Rim economies—Chile, Colombia, and Peru—with similar economic specializations, geographical borders, and economic growth dynamics. We find that (1) some parts of Economic Freedom Index (EFI) accelerate the speed of internationalization, whereas other areas slow it down or have no effect. Specifically, the closer to full EF the home country is in terms of regulations and government, the shorter the time to internationalize. (2) More experienced management teams are more likely to translate their knowledge into faster international market entry, but this pays off only for larger sized SMEs in contrast to smaller ones due to complementarities between managerial resources and physical, financial, and organizational resources. (3) Finally, industry, firm location, and country destination can only weakly explain the speed of internationalization. The findings add to the literature on SME internationalization in emerging markets and point towards potential policies to stimulate growth by SMEs in these markets.

We use data from Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the UK to examine the link between the presence of women directors and exporting activity. To do this, we build on resource-based view (RBV) and resource dependence theory (RDT) and show that SMEs with women on the board of directors are less likely to be involved in exporting activity compared to SMEs without women directors. Nevertheless, this negative relationship is moderated by seeking network advice, which can be explained through the social network theory (SNT).

This paper examines the link between training and (perceived) actual/intended performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK. We use the UK's 2015 Small Business Survey containing large-scale data from more than 15,000 owner-managers of SMEs. Using the ordered probit analysis to test our hypothesis, we find that there is a positive and significant relationship between training and SMEs' performance. When differentiating between training according to its type, we find that on-the-job and off-the-job training are positively and significantly related to performance, however, when these types of training are received simultaneously, the combined association becomes stronger than their individual effects.