SMEs international growth: The moderating role of experience on entrepreneurial and learning orientations

New and small firms operating in the high-tech environments need strong entrepreneurial (EO) and learning (LO) orientations to enhance international growth. Yet, the relationship between these two key strategic dimensions and foreign growth can be contingent to the entrepreneur’s individual characteristics. Bringing together elements from strategic management, organization and entrepreneurship literatures, we employ a dynamic temporal perspective considering two levels of analysis, the firm and the entrepreneur, and we apply a fixed effects pooled time-series regression on a sample of 170 firms in two periods of time (2005 and 2015). Our findings indicate that SMEs that possess greater EO and LO have higher international growth. However, previous entrepreneurial and industry-specific managerial experience of the founder/CEO positively exert their effect on these relationships. Our results have important theoretical and practical implications for entrepreneurs and policy makers operating in highly innovative sectors.     

Performance or learning goal orientation: Implications for business performance

An organization's long-term effectiveness and efficiency reflect its learning goal or performance goal orientation. Goal orientation concepts originate in psychology of achievement motivation theory. Goal orientations drive the development and deployment of organizational capabilities, such as market orientation and innovativeness to achieve organizational performance outcomes. Extant research pays little attention to whether or not industry type (services or manufacturing) operates as a significant moderating factor in the relationships among an organization's capabilities, goal orientation, and performance outcomes. This study addresses this gap. The study results indicate a significant moderating effect of industry type on relationship between goal orientation and performance but not between goal orientation and either market orientation or innovativeness. Goal orientation appears to be more important for service industries than for manufacturing.     

The indirect effect of online marketing capabilities on the international performance of e-commerce SMEs

International e-commerce is a strong global trend pushed by a tail wind of bolstering economic policies, changing customer behaviors, and improved logistics and technologies. This study investigates the reasons for performance variations among international e-commerce SMEs. Building on the capabilities perspective and market orientation literature, a research model is developed and tested with linear regression and mediation analysis on an effective sample of 99 Swedish SMEs which use e-commerce as an international sales channel. Our study shows that online marketing capabilities are necessary but not sufficient to increase performance among these companies. Our results show that marketing ambidexterity, reflected by both market-driven and market-driving approaches, is instrumental to leverage the effect of online marketing capabilities.     

Linking market orientation to international market selection and international performance

One key strategic decision in a firm's internationalization process is the international market selection (IMS). IMS must match the firm's own-specific resources and capabilities for optimal performance. This research, drawing on the resource-based view, investigates how a firm's market orientation (MO) resources and capabilities influence the firm's IMS between culturally close and distant markets and how the matching of MO and IMS impacts on its international performance. We hypothesize that market-oriented firms tend to choose culturally distant markets that help them exploit their MO. Firms with a fit between MO and IMS tend to perform better internationally than those without such a fit. Both hypotheses are supported by our database of Chinese manufacturing firms expanding internationally.     

Market responsiveness, top management risk taking, and the role of strategic learning as determinants of market pioneering

This study investigates managerial and organizational factors associated with engaging in a market pioneering strategy. Specifically, top management risk taking and the firm-level capability of market responsiveness are hypothesized to be associated with market pioneering. Additionally, strategic learning self efficacy is hypothesized to moderate the effects of top management risk taking and market responsiveness on market pioneering. Moderated regression analysis based on data collected from 111 manufacturing firms supports the hypotheses. Top management risk taking and market responsiveness positively predict the use of a pioneering strategy. Strategic learning self efficacy makes market pioneering more palatable to risk-averse top managers who might not otherwise engage in pioneering. Finally, strategic learning self efficacy strengthens the relationship between market responsiveness and market pioneering. Implications for future theory, practice, and research are discussed.     

Organizational and competitive influences of exploration and exploitation activities in small firms

This study explores organizational and competitive factors affecting exploration/exploitation activities in SMEs by examining the role of entrepreneurial orientation (EO), market orientation (MO) and perceived competitive intensity. We test the relationships among these variables using data collected from 55 manufacturing SMEs operating in the southern part of U. S. The findings provide a strong support for a positive association between EO, MO and exploration/exploitation activities. Perceived competitive intensity was only a significant moderator for the relationship between MO and the degree of exploratory activities. Our findings, hence, suggest the significant role organizational predictors play in enhancing exploration/exploitation activities in SMEs. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Effect of market orientation,network capability and entrepreneurial orientation on international performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs)

This study contributes to literature on the internationalization of SMEs by analysing the influence of International Market Orientation, Network Capability, and International Entrepreneurial Orientation on the International Performance of this kind of businesses. Particularly, both the direct effects of explanatory variables of International Performance and interdependence relations between them are analysed. Results obtained from a sample of 161 Mexican SMEs using SEM-PLS analysis show that the International Performance of this kind of businesses is favourably influenced by their Network Capability and International Entrepreneurial Orientation, but not by their International Market Orientation. Similarly, it is verified that interdependence relations exist among the explanatory variables of International Performance of SMEs, where positive impact of International Entrepreneurial Orientation is observed on Network Capability and the International Market Orientation of SMEs.     

Entrepreneurial orientation,market orientation,network ties,and performance: Study of entrepreneurial firms in a developing economy

Entrepreneurial orientation (EO), market orientation (MO) and network ties are typically modeled as separate antecedents of performance. However, the boundary conditions for such models are under-explored, as is their applicability to developing economy settings. Accordingly, drawing on institutional and social capital theories, the current paper argues that the performance benefits of EO and MO are complementary, and vary across different levels of social and business network ties. Using primary data gathered from entrepreneurial firms operating in Ghana, the study findings indicate that aligning high levels of EO and MO improves business performance, and particularly so when social and business network ties are well developed, since under these latter conditions, the performance benefits of aligning EO and MO are greatest.     

Triad lessons: Generalizing results on high performance firms in five business-to-business markets

Significant differences are known to exist among organizations operating in different countries due to different national and organizational cultures, strategic orientations, and management styles. Less clear, however, is whether there are significant patterns of differences in how marketing-related factors drive performance in the most successful firms regardless of country. Building on a previous study of major Japanese firms [Deshpandé et al., 1993. Journal of Marketing 57, 22–27], an exploratory study compared samples of business-to-business relationships of Japanese, English, French, German, and US companies. We found the expected significant differences in organizational cultures, but found no country-specific slopes or intercepts in regressions relating factors such as innovativeness, organizational climate and culture, and market orientation to business performance. Successful firms appear to transcend differences in national culture and develop a common pattern of drivers of success which include primary focus on organizational innovativeness, a participative work climate, and an externally oriented organizational culture.     

The intermediating role of big data analytics capability between responsive and proactive market orientations and firm performance in the retail industry

Big data analytics capability (BDAC) is the key resource for competitive advantage in the drastically changing market. Although some studies have investigated the impacts on firm performance, there is limited understanding of how firms enhance their BDAC. This study draws on organisational culture and investigates the effects of responsive and proactive market orientations on BDAC and firm performance. The results show that both responsive and proactive market orientations increase BDAC. Further, BDAC fully mediates the relationship between these two market orientations and firm performance. Our findings suggest that BDAC researchers should focus on market orientations that enhance BDAC.     

The effects of entrepreneurial orientation, market orientation, and marketing subunit influence on firm performance

The study investigates how an organization’s entrepreneurial orientation moderates the interplay between market orientation and marketing subunit influence on firm performance. The hypothesized model predicts that the positive interaction between market orientation and marketing subunit influence has a weaker effect on firm performance under conditions of high entrepreneurial orientation. The regression and supplementary analyses provide support for most predictions and, most importantly, for a negative three-way interaction effect: At higher levels of entrepreneurial orientation, the positive moderating effect of marketing subunit influence on the market orientation–business performance relationship is reduced. The authors discuss the managerial and theoretical implications of their findings and provide a number of directions for further research.

Performance expectations of small firms considering radical product innovation

Performance expectations influence business decisions such as investment decisions and demand for supplies, particularly in small firms with limited strategic planning. Despite widespread use of performance expectations by firms and governments when making sales forecasts and economic outlooks, surprisingly little research exists about how small firms form performance expectations. This paper contributes to reduce this knowledge gap by analyzing performance expectations of small firm managers operating in markets with radical product innovations. This paper proposes a model and hypotheses, which explain performance expectations of small firm managers based on firms' current success, radical product innovation, and variables that indicate firms' ability to respond to customer needs for radical product innovation. Data from 200 decision-makers in a real decision-making context support the model. The results show that performance expectations in small firms are only to a limited extent a naïve extrapolation of current success: radical product innovation and small firm's ability to respond to customer needs for radical product innovation influence performance expectations.     

Achieving sustained competitive advantage in retail and consumer service firms: The role of entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurial bricolage

The vital role of entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurial bricolage in creating sustained competitive advantage in retail and consumer service firms is increasingly acknowledged in modern markets. Using data from 246 retail and consumer service firms (hereafter R&CSFs) in Japan, this paper develops and empirically tests a framework delineating how entrepreneurial-oriented R&CSFs strategically combine existing resources while managing risks to differentiate their service portfolios to be competitive. The findings reveal that entrepreneurial orientation and entrepreneurial bricolage influence differentiation advantage and risk management, which, in turn, is associated with creating a sustained competitive advantage (hereafter SCA). This paper adds novel insights to the dynamic capabilities view and retail and service marketing literature by identifying entrepreneurial orientation, entrepreneurial bricolage, and risk management as dynamic capabilities, which allows R&CSFs to create service innovations in resource-constrained environments.     

Synergies and tensions between and within domestic and international market activities of firms

The distinction between domestic and international market activities has an idiosyncratic meaning for international business research. This study examines the significant yet unclear role of domestic market activities for the internationalizing firm through the theoretical lens of exploitation and exploration. By means of five qualitative case studies, we show that both the dynamics between domestic–international market activities and the interplay between exploitation–exploration are intrinsically concerned with synergies and tensions. Our findings uncover how firms leverage these synergies and manage these tensions that manifest between and within their domestic and international markets. Synergies and tensions are found to revolve around ambidexterity, networks and organizational market information processes.     

Interfunctional dynamics and firm performance: A comparison between firms in Poland and the United States

This study compares between firms in the US mature market economy and in the Polish transitional economy. The study found that Poland's past as a planned economy may continue to hinder interdepartmental connectedness and act as an obstacle to firms in adopting a market orientation. According to the study, for Polish firms, there is less shared information and cooperation across departments, and less shared responsibility for departmental tasks, compared to US firms. The status of marketing in Poland remains that of a junior department, subordinate to influences from functional areas such as finance and accounting, which directed production in the former planned economy. The study supports the hypothesis that Polish firms have lower interdepartmental connectedness than US firms and finds strong support for the relationship between interdepartmental connectedness and firm performance.     

Entrepreneurial strategic posture and learning effort in international ventures: The moderating roles of operational flexibilities

Drawing from the attention-based view, this article extends the study of international entrepreneurship by investigating how the contribution of international ventures’ entrepreneurial strategic posture to their actual learning efforts in foreign markets depends on various flexibilities that underlie their operations. The results from a sample of international Chinese ventures indicate that an entrepreneurial strategic posture enhances international learning effort more to the extent that the ventures possess greater cognitive and political flexibilities. Somewhat paradoxically, greater structural flexibility impedes the translation of an entrepreneurial strategic posture into international learning effort. The findings have important implications for the growing body of research that adopts an international new venture perspective.     

Relating strategic market orientation and market performance: role of customer value types

A service provider achieves competitive advantage by configuring appropriate strategic orientation and customer value type. This paper addresses three important issues: (i) which customer value type (economical, relational or technical) is important for bank customers? (ii) which strategic market orientation (customer or competitor) helps in achieving the desired value type? and (iii) which value type significantly predicts market performance? We propose that a strategic market orientation pursued by a firm shall influence the customer value it intends to offer so as to maximize the market performance. Using data collected from 538 bank customers, this study reveals that when there is a perfect match between strategic market orientation and value being perceived by its customers, a firm shall achieve strategy-value fit and realize optimal market outcomes in the form of customer satisfaction, acquisition, retention, cross-selling, and up-selling. Furthermore, a bank shall realize maximum level of market performance if it pursues both customer and competitor orientation and endeavors to deliver technical/functional value to its target customers. The paper concludes with managerial implications and future research directions.     

Performance of international joint ventures in Turkey: perspectives of Western firms and Turkish firms

This study compares responses from Western partner firms and local partner firms from a sample of international joint ventures (IJVs) in Turkey, in order to analyse the performance of IJVs on a range of topics including overall performance, the relative importance of performance criteria, and actual performance in terms of various dimensions of expected performance. The results of the hypotheses tests indicate that while both groups of partner firms are equally satisfied in terms of overall IJV performance, Turkish partner firms are more satisfied than Western partner firms regarding comparison with home country operations and host country competitors. The study also finds that the relative importance of IJV performance criteria varies to a moderate extent between Western and Turkish partner firms, and that both groups of partner firms evaluate IJV performance equally favourably across most underlying dimensions of IJV performance.     

The role of entrepreneurial orientation in service firms: empirical evidence from Austria

Entrepreneurial behaviour is becoming increasingly important for all firms, regardless of size, age, or industry sector. It is increasingly seen as one of the most important drivers for economic growth and corporate success. Nevertheless, no empirical research has so far concentrated on the role of entrepreneurial behaviour in service firms, although the service sector has become the most important (and the only growing) industry sector. This article therefore investigates the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and corporate performance on the basis of an empirical survey of 310 service firms in Austria. Here, a significant positive relationship between EO and corporate performance could be identified, with a clear emphasis on innovative behaviour as the most important sub-dimension.     

When marketing and innovation interact: The case of born-global firms

Previous research on born-global firms (BGs) has emphasized their strong dependency on establishing a competitive positioning from the early days of their existence. While many researchers emphasized BGs’ innovativeness as a driver of their competitiveness, the capabilities underlying BGs’ innovativeness are still under-researched, specifically, marketing, and innovation-related capabilities. Based on a preliminary stage of in-depth interviews with senior managers, we identified three capabilities, market intelligence generation, marketing adaptability, and team cohesion, that underscore the interaction between innovation and marketing. We then performed a SEM analysis based on data collected from 127 BGs. Our findings indicate that marketing intelligence and team cohesion directly and positively impact BGs’ innovativeness. Marketing adaptability was found to be moderated by environmental conditions—economic development and technological development. When economic development is high, salesforce adaptability enhances BGs’ innovativeness, while product adaptability or communication adaptability decreases BGs’ innovativeness. When technological development is high, product adaptability enhances BGs’ innovativeness, while salesforce adaptability decreases BGs’ innovativeness.