The moderating effect of exploitative and exploratory learning on internationalisation–performance relationship in SMEs

Abstract

The internationalisation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is an increasing phenomenon but the effective advantages of internationalisation have been disputed yet. This study extends internationalisation research by focusing on learning perspective to investigate the relationship between firm's internationalisation and performance. Specifically, a path regression model is applied to examine how exploitative and exploratory learning is able to moderate SMEs' exporting process to drive business performance. The differences in organisational learning are further investigated compared to domestic firms. The findings suggest exploitation does not affect SMEs' internationalisationperformance link but it is likely a critical antecedent to efficiently move to global markets, while exploration plays a significant role to positively leverage the effect of international involvement on business performance. Second abstractAunque la internacionalizaciòn de las pequeñas y medianas empresas (PYME) es un fenomeno cada vez màs extendido, todavia hay muchas dudas sobre sus reales beneficios en terminos de rendimientos financieros. Este estudio contribuye a la investigación sobre la internacionalizaciòn analizando la relaciòn entre la internacionalizaciòn y el rendimiento desde una perspectiva basada en el aprendizaje. En primer lugar, se ha realizado una comparaciòn entre empresas internacionales y empresas locales para evaluar la existencia de diferentes niveles de aprendizaje. Despuès, un modelo de análisis de senderos ha sido implementado para estudiar el rol del aprendizaje de explotación y exploración para moderar el Forthcoming in Journal of International Entrepreneurship2 efecto del proceso de exportaciòn de los rendimientos de las PYME. Los resultados demuestran, por una parte, que el aprendizaje de explotación no afecta en la relaciòn entre la internacionalizaciòn y el rendimiento y podria ser màs bien una condiciòn previa para acceder al mercado global, y por otro lado, al contrario, el aprendizaje de exploración favorecido del aumento de la implicaciòn internacional genera efectos positivos sobre los rendimientos financieros de empresas Keywords Internationalisation, exporting, exploitative and exploratory learning, business performance, SMEs. Summary HighlightsContributions: Since the uncertainty related to internationalisation-performance relationship for both small and large businesses, this study focuses on SMEs' internationalisation in order to examine the role of exploitative and exploratory learning in leveraging the effect of exporting process on financial performance. Purpose/Research Question: Does international involvement of SMEs affect their business performance? What is the role of learning on internationalisationperformance link? Are the exporting SMEs more learning oriented than domestic ones? And, more specifically, how does the exploitative and exploratory learning moderate the effect of SMEs' exporting on business performance? Findings/Results: Path regression model is implemented to te...

An Empirical Study on Green Innovation Strategy and Sustainable Competitive Advantages: Path and Boundary

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Language ability and entrepreneurship education: Necessary skills for Europe’s start-ups?

“…These firms do not follow a gradual stage-by-stage pattern of internationalisation but exhibit high global market commitment soon after inception (McAuley 1999;Crick 2009). This is arguably due to domestic institutional forces that focus on continuous learning (see De Noni and Apa 2015;Etemad 2015) and social skills (see Fligstein 1997). To this end, the underlying educational and cultural systems which support and underpin the entrepreneurial mind set (Farny et al 2016;Johannisson 2016) require more attention in the production of essential global resources relating to EO and language ability.…”

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