Abstract
The conceptual approach in this article follows and analyzes the holistic model of Kuivalainen, Sundqvist, Saarenketo, and McNaughton in 2012, making it analytically fitting to the SMEs’ international strategic groups concerning their international scale and scope. That model, according to our conceptual proposal, needs a methodological readjustment to an effective conformity towards the cross-sectional research. Accordingly, we presented two main considerations. First, we put together a conceptual model, fitted towards the field of top managers’ psychological characteristics as major antecedent of the firms’ international strategy. Second, the proposed conceptual model is methodologically oriented for cross-sectional studies. In relation to the antecedents, we took top managers’ emotional intelligence and cultural intelligence as distinctive capabilities of the firms’ international strategy and as major antecedents of top managers’ networking behaviors. Regarding firms’ international performance as the major conceptual model outcome, a multidimensional approach is taken with financial, strategic, and overall performance. These elements of the international firms are regarded as of major importance within the international firms’ enterprise architecture. Methodologically, we performed a bibliographic review on the fundamental concepts that we present in the model. Concerning the results, we provided a research model that raised a whole set of new leads for research with some proposals for future investigations.
Highlights
The conceptual framework developed is grounded in international business, psychology, and networks fields
Many of these born globals (BG) are based on knowledge and technology, impacted by technological advances and globalization, and they do not properly follow a progressive internationalization process and may even internationalize before any domestic action [68]. These are small firms, characterized by a scarcity of resources [78], despite usually having differentiated intangible ones [29]. These are new companies to which networks play an important role in their activity [33], and if psychic distance is felt in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that follow the traditional internationalization, the same does not happen in BG and born-again globals (BAG) [31]
We propose the analysis of three different levels of the SMEs’ degree of internationalization, namely, firms with a high DoI, firms with a medium DoI and firms with a low DoI
Summary
The conceptual framework developed is grounded in international business, psychology, and networks fields. Applying the theory that internationalization is a positive contributor for the performance of firms within the Kuivalainen, Sundqvist et al.’s [1] model of internationalization, we used the upper echelons theory to stress the relevance of the psychological characteristics of the top managers for the firms’ international decisions Following this line, and according to the RBV, we took the top managers’ emotional intelligence and cultural intelligence as relevant intangible assets for firms’ sustained competitive advantage and performance [41]. Within the current international business context, increasingly demanding and complex, we put emphasis on the international top managers’ psychological characteristics that should be diagnosed and monitored in order to better support the firms’ international expansion From this business architecture point of view, we emphasize the need and the important role of new developments in the firms’.
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