Leveraging foreign diversification to build firm resilience: A conditional process perspective

Abstract

Foreign diversification is crucial for risk management, but its role in building resilient international firms is underexplored. This research combines the organizational information processing theory with international business literature to examine how and when foreign diversification relates to firm resilience in the context of SME exporters. The study suggests that while foreign diversification may contribute to firm resilience, foreign market scanning mediates this effect under varying supply chain disruption conditions. An analysis of primary data from 272 SME exporters in Ghana reveals that foreign diversification alone does not explain firm resilience. Instead, the results support the arguments that foreign market scanning positively mediates the foreign diversification – firm resilience relationship, and that this indirect relationship is stronger in highly disruptive supply chain environments. Implications of these findings for international business research and practice are discussed.