Internationalization of SMEs and Organizational Factors in Emerging Economies: High –Tech Industry of Iran

Abstract

SMEs as an engine of growth play an important role in emerging economies for poverty reduction, the role which has attracted the attention of scholars in recent years. This study explores the effect of firm characteristics, resources and top management team (TMT) characteristics on the internationalization of SMEs. According to our conceptual model, we assumed that firm resources mediate the link between international performance of SMEs and characteristics of firms and of TMT. To test our model, we asked top managers of international SMEs in Iran ICT sector to fill in a questionnaire. The data was analyzed through structural equation modeling which leads us to codifying a causal model accordingly. The findings show a direct and indirect positive effect of TMT characteristics on internationalization of SMEs, however, it indicates that indirect effect of firm characteristics is not significant. Finally, a set of guidelines are proposed for internationalization of SMEs in emerging economies.