Examining the role of international entrepreneurial orientation, domestic market competition, and technological and marketing capabilities on SME’s export performance
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to extend our understanding of the development of small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) organizational capabilities and their contributions to export performance by incorporating two antecedents: one from the internal environment (international entrepreneurial orientation) and another from the external environment (domestic market competition).
Design/methodology/approach
A proposed framework built on resource-based view and contingency theory was tested using partial least squares with data collected from 470 Korean SMEs.
Findings
International entrepreneurial orientation and domestic market competition both prompted SMEs to develop their technological and marketing capabilities, leading to enhanced performance in international markets. Full mediating effects of technological and marketing capabilities were discovered between international entrepreneurial orientation and export performance.
Practical implications
Given the direct effect of organizational capabilities on export performance, SMEs should facilitate the spirit of international entrepreneurial orientation and heightened managerial awareness of domestic market competition to efficiently cultivate organizational capabilities.
Originality/value
Unique findings indicate that SME capabilities can be optimally cultivated under the coexistence of an internal impetus (i.e. international entrepreneurial orientation) and a harsh external environment (i.e. domestic competition), demonstrating the significance of context in developing organizational capabilities.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2015S1A3A2046811).
Citation
Jin, B. and Cho, H.J. (2018), "Examining the role of international entrepreneurial orientation, domestic market competition, and technological and marketing capabilities on SME’s export performance", Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 33 No. 5, pp. 585-598. https://doi.org/10.1108/JBIM-02-2017-0043
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited