The impact of internationalisation on product innovation in emerging market firms

Abstract

This article is based on a dataset compiled by the World Bank. This publicly accessible dataset contains information about business management which was collected from 212 EMFs that were located in ten different markets across Central, Eastern Europe and Asia. In order to measure the impact of internationalisation on product innovation in these EMFs, this article utilises the resource-based view (RBV). Through data analysis a consistent pattern showing the positive impact of the strategies adopted by internationalising EMFs to enhance their product innovations emerged. This uniform pattern was common in all EMFs. Most important, the trend showed that their product innovations were attributable to several factors that included; international physical resources, international marketing capabilities, managerial international experience, managerial perception of industry internationalisation, and international outsourcing. Thus, this article offers fine insights detailing the distinctive business manoeuvres internationalising EMFs initiate to drive product innovation. Insights from this research advance the resource-based perspective in a new way. Particularly, the new knowledge describes distinctive resource-seeking behaviours EMFs exhibit in emerging market thereby contributing to the literature on firm internationalisation and innovation.