The present investigation aims study the sustainability of the business model of the Portuguese SMEs operating in the B2B International market analyzing the influence of dynamic marketing capabilities and adaptive marketing capabilities in their international marketing performance. It will also analyze the moderating effects of Competitive Intensity within this international scenario. A quantitative study was developed, using a questionnaire as a research method. In total, 335 valid responses were collected from Portuguese SMEs in June 2020. To test the hypotheses, multiple hierarchical regressions were performed. As for the analyzes involving Competitive Intensity environments, namely low and high intensity, dummies were developed to evaluate the different effects produced by the capacities in the International Marketing Performance. This study shows the positive impact of the dynamic marketing capabilities and adaptive marketing capabilities on the international marketing performance of the surveyed companies, essentially from the product development management, supply chain management, vigilant market learning and open marketing. when in a low competitive intensity environment only dynamic marketing capabilities had a positive effect on performance, but in a high, competitive, intensity environment both dynamic marketing capabilities and adaptive marketing capabilities showed positive effects in relation to performance. This study innovates by bringing international marketing, through two marketing capacities, from the perspective of SMEs that perform B2B activities.

Purpose It is well established in marketing literature that international performance is positively affected by marketing capabilities, whether static or dynamic. However, recent theoretical development proposed adaptive marketing capabilities (AMC) as a set of capabilities able to close the marketing gap. Given the relative newness of this construct, empirical studies are still scarce. Therefore, drawing from a resource-based view perspective, this study aims to analyse the relationships among market orientation (MO), AMC and firms’ international performance, as well as the moderating effects of competitive intensity. Design/methodology/approach The authors have used survey-based research with 335 internationalised Portuguese business-to-business small and medium sized enterprises (B2B SMEs) during June 2020. The authors analysed responses through structural equation modelling and path analysis. Findings Results revealed positive relationships between AMC and international performance and between MO and AMC. Furthermore, results were robust to the competitive environment. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study contributes to international marketing literature by analysing MO as an antecedent of AMC, which has never been done before. Furthermore, it analyses the simultaneous effects of MO and AMC on international performance, as well as the moderation of competitive intensity. Also, the study’s results inform managers and marketeers of internationalised firms about the advantages of adopting a market-oriented behaviour and the development of AMC, whether in more or less competitive environments.

Mergers and acquisitions (MA) have long attracted managers’ attention and have been researched in different perspectives and using different theories. In this study we grasp the wealth of extant research in the field of MAs. We conducted a bibliometric study of 635 articles on strategic management and international business research published in 34 highly ranked management journals between 1983 and 2012. We performed citation, co-citation and factor analyses to uncover the issues examined by scholars, the main theoretical approaches and themes researched. The results show a relative shift from economic and financial approaches to knowledge-based and organizational learning perspectives in recent years. There was also an evolution from assessing the performance of firms after an MA to seeking an understanding of what may drive synergy creation after the integration process. Furthermore we observed an increasing interest in cross-border MAs. We discuss our findings, identifying gaps and suggesting paths for future research.

The present research focuses on whether the different combinations of the micro, small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) international scale and scope affect their international performance differently. The major purpose of this research is to study the paramount relationship between the SMEs’ international strategies and international performance. With a sample composed of 307 international SMEs, our empirical analysis defines three different strategic groups regarding the scale and scope of internationalization, that is, a high, medium and low international exposure of the firms. The scope, as an important international strategic dimension, is taken from two angles, the number of countries and the number of regional blocs where the firms operate. We assessed the strategic groups’ implications on the firms’ international performance. The latter was taken as a multidimensional construct composed of the financial, strategic and overall international performance respectively. We used the hierarchical regression analysis to test our hypotheses, and major results emerged. Higher levels of commitment with the international markets lead to better financial, strategic and overall international performances. These results are of utmost importance from the theoretical point of view and for the strategic decision-making of SMEs, opening new avenues for future studies.

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The major purpose of this research was to study the predictive value of the top managers’ psychological characteristics regarding their networking behavior. In the international business management context of small- and medium-sized enterprises, we took the top managers’ cultural intelligence and emotional intelligence as determinant capabilities to perform better in their external networking. The sample was composed of 307 Portuguese SMEs’ international decision-makers, specifically founders, owners, chief executive officers (CEOs), managers of international activities, international market managers, or commercial managers. The data was collected from 2–30 April 2019 through online surveys directed to the Portuguese decision-makers that were directly responsible for the firms’ international activities. As a data collection instrument, the surveys were pretested and sent by e-mail. The average age of the participants was approximately 50 years old for males and 45 years old for females. We used self-reported measures to assess the different constructs and the hierarchical regression analysis to test our hypotheses. The results showed that cultural intelligence and emotional intelligence were significant drivers of decision-makers’ external networking behavior. A new factor structure concerning external networking behavior was retained. The major results exhibited the predictive value of some cultural and emotional intelligence dimensions over the new retained external networking behavior factors. Therefore, in the international business management context, the capability to adapt to new cultural contexts, as well as the capability to reason about emotions, improved the international decision-makers’ external networking behavior.

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The conceptual approach in this article follows and analyzes the holistic model of Kuivalainen, Sundqvist, Saarenketo, and McNaughton in 2012, making it analytically fitting to the SMEs’ international strategic groups concerning their international scale and scope. That model, according to our conceptual proposal, needs a methodological readjustment to an effective conformity towards the cross-sectional research. Accordingly, we presented two main considerations. First, we put together a conceptual model, fitted towards the field of top managers’ psychological characteristics as major antecedent of the firms’ international strategy. Second, the proposed conceptual model is methodologically oriented for cross-sectional studies. In relation to the antecedents, we took top managers’ emotional intelligence and cultural intelligence as distinctive capabilities of the firms’ international strategy and as major antecedents of top managers’ networking behaviors. Regarding firms’ international performance as the major conceptual model outcome, a multidimensional approach is taken with financial, strategic, and overall performance. These elements of the international firms are regarded as of major importance within the international firms’ enterprise architecture. Methodologically, we performed a bibliographic review on the fundamental concepts that we present in the model. Concerning the results, we provided a research model that raised a whole set of new leads for research with some proposals for future investigations.