TY - JOUR
T1 - Knowledge acquisition strategy, speed of capability development and speed of SME internationalisation
AU - Hilmersson, Mikael
AU - Johanson, Martin
PY - 2020/9/1
Y1 - 2020/9/1
N2 - From a study following two sequential on-site data collection stages at 618 internationalising SMEs in Sweden, Poland and China, we identify and validate four distinct international knowledge acquisition strategies. In contrast to traditional theories suggesting that firms develop capabilities by generating their own experience, we show that Grafters and Pragmatists have a higher speed of international capability development than Experiencers and Networkers. Subsequently, by drawing on capability development theory, we show that the speed of capability development has a curvilinear (inverted U-shaped) effect on the speed of spread between international markets. These findings have consequences both for practitioners and theory.
AB - From a study following two sequential on-site data collection stages at 618 internationalising SMEs in Sweden, Poland and China, we identify and validate four distinct international knowledge acquisition strategies. In contrast to traditional theories suggesting that firms develop capabilities by generating their own experience, we show that Grafters and Pragmatists have a higher speed of international capability development than Experiencers and Networkers. Subsequently, by drawing on capability development theory, we show that the speed of capability development has a curvilinear (inverted U-shaped) effect on the speed of spread between international markets. These findings have consequences both for practitioners and theory.
KW - capability development
KW - internationalisation
KW - knowledge acquisition
KW - speed
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85083579823&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0266242620909029
DO - 10.1177/0266242620909029
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85083579823
VL - 38
SP - 536
EP - 556
JO - International Small Business Journal
JF - International Small Business Journal
SN - 0266-2426
IS - 6
ER -