IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jinten/v11y2013i2p172-195.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The internationalization of small firms: The relationship between the global mindset and firms’ internationalization behavior

Author

Listed:
  • Oyvin Kyvik
  • Willem Saris
  • Eduard Bonet
  • J. Felício

Abstract

Some firms in internationally oriented industries are internationalized while other comparable firms in the same sector or industry do not. Observing this difference in strategic behavior among small firms led us to consider how differences in CEOs’ attitudes, international orientation, and mindset might explain it. Therefore, this study adopts a cognitive perspective on management to explore the formation of the global mindset and the relationship between the global mindset of small-firm decision makers and their firms’ internationalization behavior. A theory-based conceptual model and measurement instrument are developed and—using structural equation modeling—the model is estimated based on empirical data from cross-sectional samples of small Norwegian and Portuguese firms. The study finds: (1) a strong causal relationship between the global mindset and firms’ internationalization behavior; (2) the combination of the findings and substantive theory indicates that the main driver of firms’ internationalization operates through the global mindset. This study also covers the factors that strongly influence the formation of a global mindset, especially the decision makers’ work experience and personal characteristics in terms of propensity to interdisciplinary collaboration, cognitive flexibility, and networking capability. Based on these findings, suggestions are made for policies that can foster the internationalization of small firms. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Oyvin Kyvik & Willem Saris & Eduard Bonet & J. Felício, 2013. "The internationalization of small firms: The relationship between the global mindset and firms’ internationalization behavior," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 11(2), pages 172-195, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jinten:v:11:y:2013:i:2:p:172-195
    DOI: 10.1007/s10843-013-0105-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10843-013-0105-1
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10843-013-0105-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Finn Wiedersheim-Paul & Hans C Olson & Lawrence S Welch, 1978. "Pre-Export Activity: The First step in Internationalization," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 9(1), pages 47-58, March.
    2. Anne Sigismund Huff, 1997. "A Current and Future Agenda for Cognitive Research in Organizations," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(6), pages 947-952, November.
    3. Haynie, J. Michael & Shepherd, Dean & Mosakowski, Elaine & Earley, P. Christopher, 2010. "A situated metacognitive model of the entrepreneurial mindset," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 217-229, March.
    4. Jeffrey C. Shuman & John A. Seeger, 1986. "The Theory and Practice of Strategic Management in Smaller Rapid Growth Firms," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 11(1), pages 7-18, July.
    5. Richard B. Robinson & John A. Pearce, 1983. "The impact of formalized strategic planning on financial performance in small organizations," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4(3), pages 197-207, July.
    6. Jonathan L Calof, 1994. "The Relationship Between Firm Size and Export Behavior Revisited," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 25(2), pages 367-387, June.
    7. Joseph F. Porac & Howard Thomas & Charles Baden‐Fuller, 1989. "Competitive Groups As Cognitive Communities: The Case Of Scottish Knitwear Manufacturers," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 397-416, July.
    8. David J. Teece & Gary Pisano & Amy Shuen, 1997. "Dynamic capabilities and strategic management," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(7), pages 509-533, August.
    9. Jan Johanson & Jan-Erik Vahlne, 2009. "The Uppsala internationalization process model revisited: From liability of foreignness to liability of outsidership," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 40(9), pages 1411-1431, December.
    10. Peter W Liesch & Gary A Knight, 1999. "Information Internalization and Hurdle Rates in Small and Medium Enterprise Internationalization," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 30(2), pages 383-394, June.
    11. Ronald K. Mitchell & Lowell W. Busenitz & Barbara Bird & Connie Marie Gaglio & Jeffery S. McMullen & Eric A. Morse & J. Brock Smith, 2007. "The Central Question in Entrepreneurial Cognition Research 2007," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 31(1), pages 1-27, January.
    12. Stan D Reid, 1981. "The Decision-Maker and Export Entry and Expansion," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 12(2), pages 101-112, June.
    13. Danny Miller & Jean-Marie Toulouse, 1986. "Chief Executive Personality and Corporate Strategy and Structure in Small Firms," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(11), pages 1389-1409, November.
    14. Andersen, Otto & Rynning, Marjo-Riitta, 1994. "Prediction of export intentions -- managing with structural characteristics?," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 17-27, March.
    15. Margaret Peteraf & Mark Shanley, 1997. "Getting To Know You: A Theory Of Strategic Group Identity," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(S1), pages 165-186, July.
    16. Calof, Jonathan L. & Beamish, Paul W., 1995. "Adapting to foreign markets: Explaining internationalization," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 115-131, June.
    17. Busenitz, Lowell W. & Barney, Jay B., 1997. "Differences between entrepreneurs and managers in large organizations: Biases and heuristics in strategic decision-making," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 9-30, January.
    18. Zahra, Shaker A. & Korri, Juha Santeri & Yu, JiFeng, 2005. "Cognition and international entrepreneurship: implications for research on international opportunity recognition and exploitation," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 129-146, April.
    19. Marjorie A. Lyles & Charles R. Schwenk, 1992. "Top Management, Strategy And Organizational Knowledge Structures," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 155-174, March.
    20. Havnes, Pers-Anders & Senneseth, Knut, 2001. "A Panel Study of Firm Growth among SMEs in Networks," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 293-302, June.
    21. Erwin Dichtl & Hans-Georg Koeglmayr & Stefan Mueller, 1990. "International Orientation as a Precondition for Export Success," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 21(1), pages 23-40, March.
    22. James P Johnson & Tomasz Lenartowicz & Salvador Apud, 2006. "Cross-cultural competence in international business: toward a definition and a model," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 37(4), pages 525-543, July.
    23. Dutz, Mark A. & Ordover, Janusz A. & Willig, Robert D., 2000. "Entrepreneurship, access policy and economic development: Lessons from industrial organization," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(4-6), pages 739-747, May.
    24. Minkes, A. L. & Foxall, Gordon R., 2003. "Herbert Simon and the concept of dispersed entrepreneurship," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 221-228, April.
    25. Knight, Gary A., 2001. "Entrepreneurship and strategy in the international SME," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 155-171.
    26. Cristina Giménez & Eva Ventura, 2003. "Logistics-production, logistics-marketing and external integration: Their impact on performance," Economics Working Papers 657, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Laura H. Middermann & Lubna Rashid, 2019. "Cross-Country Differences in Entrepreneurial Internationalization Tendencies: Evidence from Germany and Pakistan," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-17, July.
    2. Simin Lin & Catherine Mercier-Suissa & Charbel Salloum, 2016. "The Chinese born globals of the Zhejiang Province: A study on the key factors for their rapid internationalization," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 75-95, March.
    3. Zhang, Jianhong & van Gorp, Désirée & Ebbers, Haico & Zhou, Chaohong & Kievit, Henk, 2022. "Organizational legitimacy of emerging multinational enterprises: An individual perspective," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(6).
    4. Joan Freixanet & Gemma Renart & Alex Rialp-Criado, 2018. "The Impact of Managers’ Global Orientation on SME Export and Economic Performance," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 58(4), pages 571-604, August.
    5. Zhang, Jianhong & Zhou, Chaohong & van Gorp, Désirée M. & van Witteloostuijn, Arjen, 2020. "Willingness to work for multinational enterprises from emerging countries: The case of Chinese multinational enterprises in the Netherlands," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(5).
    6. Hazem Ali & Min Li & Zhongli Wu & Xunmin Qiu, 2023. "An Examination of the Identification and Exploitation of International Opportunities Among Chinese Traditional SMEs," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(3), pages 21582440231, September.
    7. Oliveira, Luis & Johanson, Martin, 2021. "Trust and firm internationalization: Dark-side effects on internationalization speed and how to alleviate them," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 1-12.
    8. Felício, José Augusto & Duarte, Margarida & Rodrigues, Ricardo, 2016. "Global mindset and SME internationalization: A fuzzy-set QCA approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(4), pages 1372-1378.
    9. Hazem Ali & Min Li & Xunmin Qiu & Qamar Farooq, 2023. "Global Mindset and Adaptive Marketing Capabilities in the Internationalization of Mature Chinese SMEs: International Opportunity Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-19, January.
    10. Stephanie E. Mansion & Andreas Bausch, 2020. "Intangible assets and SMEs’ export behavior: a meta-analytical perspective," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(3), pages 727-760, October.
    11. Oyvin Kyvik, 2018. "The global mindset: a must for international innovation and entrepreneurship," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 309-327, June.
    12. Augusto Felício, J. & Caldeirinha, Vítor R. & Ribeiro-Navarrete, Belen, 2015. "Corporate and individual global mind-set and internationalization of European SMEs," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(4), pages 797-802.
    13. Hélène Laurell & Svante Andersson & Leona Achtenhagen, 2013. "The importance of industry context for new venture internationalisation: A case study from the life sciences," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 297-319, December.
    14. Prange, Christiane & Pinho, José Carlos, 2017. "How personal and organizational drivers impact on SME international performance: The mediating role of organizational innovation," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 1114-1123.
    15. Rodgers, Waymond & Degbey, William Y. & Söderbom, Arne & Leijon, Svante, 2022. "Leveraging international R&D teams of portfolio entrepreneurs and management controllers to innovate: Implications of algorithmic decision-making," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 232-244.
    16. Sarika Sharma & Shreya Virani, 2023. "Antecedents of international entrepreneurial intentions among students of international business: The mediating role of international entrepreneurship education," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 586-610, December.
    17. José Jesús Merlos García, 2015. "Export Inhibitors In The First Stage Of The Internationalization Process: Evidence From Mexico," International Journal of Management and Marketing Research, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 8(2), pages 67-83.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Oyvin Kyvik, 2018. "The global mindset: a must for international innovation and entrepreneurship," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 309-327, June.
    2. Meschi, Pierre-Xavier & Ricard, Antonin & Tapia Moore, Ernesto, 2017. "Fast and Furious or Slow and Cautious? The Joint Impact of Age at Internationalization, Speed, and Risk Diversity on the Survival of Exporting Firms," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 279-291.
    3. Anisur R. Faroque & Farhad Uddin Ahmed & Mahabubur Rahman & Mohammad Osman Gani & Sina Mortazavi, 2023. "Exploring the individual and joint effects of founders' and managers' experiential knowledge on international opportunity identification," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(4), pages 1274-1300, September.
    4. Daniel R Clark & Dan Li & Dean A Shepherd, 2018. "Country familiarity in the initial stage of foreign market selection," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(4), pages 442-472, May.
    5. Daniela Bolzani & Cristina Boari, 2018. "Evaluations of export feasibility by immigrant and non-immigrant entrepreneurs in new technology-based firms," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 176-209, June.
    6. Wood, Andy & Logar, Cyril M. & Riley, William B., 2015. "Initiating exporting: The role of managerial motivation in small to medium enterprises," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(11), pages 2358-2365.
    7. Ciravegna, L. & Kundu, S.K. & Kuivalainen, O. & Lopez, L.E., 2019. "The timing of internationalization – Drivers and outcomes," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 322-332.
    8. Morgan, Robert E. & Katsikeas, Constantine S., 1997. "Obstacles to export initiation and expansion," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 677-690, December.
    9. repec:hal:journl:hal-04653607 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Nuno Calheiros-Lobo & José Vasconcelos Ferreira & Manuel Au-Yong-Oliveira, 2023. "SME Internationalization and Export Performance: A Systematic Review with Bibliometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-36, May.
    11. Cheng, Hsiang-Lin & Yu, Chow-Ming Joseph, 2008. "Institutional pressures and initiation of internationalization: Evidence from Taiwanese small- and medium-sized enterprises," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 331-348, June.
    12. Cristina Pérez-Pérez & Diana Benito-Osorio & Susana María García-Moreno, 2021. "New Puppets in the Old School: The Applicability of Traditional Internationalisation Theories in the Sharing Economy," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-24, September.
    13. Knight, Gary A. & Liesch, Peter W., 2016. "Internationalization: From incremental to born global," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 93-102.
    14. Mansura Akter & Mahfuzur Rahman & Dragana Radicic, 2019. "Women Entrepreneurship in International Trade: Bridging the Gap by Bringing Feminist Theories into Entrepreneurship and Internationalization Theories," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-28, November.
    15. Charmaine Glavas & Shane Mathews & Constanza Bianchi, 2017. "International opportunity recognition as a critical component for leveraging Internet capabilities and international market performance [Reconocimiento de oportunidad internacional como un componen," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 1-35, March.
    16. Jantunen, Ari & Nummela, Niina & Puumalainen, Kaisu & Saarenketo, Sami, 2008. "Strategic orientations of born globals--Do they really matter?," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 158-170, March.
    17. Muzychenko, Olga & Liesch, Peter W., 2015. "International opportunity identification in the internationalisation of the firm," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 704-717.
    18. Yu Xie & Taewon Suh, 2014. "Perceived resource deficiency and internationalization of small- and medium-sized firms," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 207-229, September.
    19. Morgan, Robert E. & Katsikeas, Constantine S., 1997. "Export stimuli: Export intention compared with export activity," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 6(5), pages 477-499, October.
    20. Acedo, Francisco J. & Jones, Marian V., 2007. "Speed of internationalization and entrepreneurial cognition: Insights and a comparison between international new ventures, exporters and domestic firms," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 236-252, September.
    21. Arie Y Lewin & Silvia Massini & Carine Peeters, 2020. "Absorptive capacity, socially enabling mechanisms, and the role of learning from trial and error experiments: A tribute to Dan Levinthal’s contribution to international business research," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 51(9), pages 1568-1579, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jinten:v:11:y:2013:i:2:p:172-195. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.