Artikel

International performance of SMEs' international strategic groups

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.

Language
Englisch

Bibliographic citation
Journal: Administrative Sciences ; ISSN: 2076-3387 ; Volume: 10 ; Year: 2020 ; Issue: 3 ; Pages: 1-24 ; Basel: MDPI

Classification
Öffentliche Verwaltung
Subject
degree of internationalization
international performance
international scale and scope
performance measurement
small and medium-sized enterprises

Event
Geistige Schöpfung
(who)
Cabral, Ângelo Miguel R.
Carvalho, Fernando Manuel P. O.
Ferreira, José António Vasconcelos
Event
Veröffentlichung
(who)
MDPI
(where)
Basel
(when)
2020

DOI
doi:10.3390/admsci10030065
Handle
Last update
10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET

Data provider

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Object type

  • Artikel

Associated

  • Cabral, Ângelo Miguel R.
  • Carvalho, Fernando Manuel P. O.
  • Ferreira, José António Vasconcelos
  • MDPI

Time of origin

  • 2020

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