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In this article, we analyze the impact of learning from internationalization on small and medium enterprises’ (SMEs) performance along different development paths. Drawing on the exploitation versus exploration logic, we use an alternative view of foreign operation modes (the learning perspective) to provide insights into the impact of such learning on technological and organizational innovation as well as overall performance. Our results, which are derived from a sample of 132 SMEs active in traditional manufacturing industries, point to a path to superior performance that entails resource-augmenting operation modes and organizational innovation.JEL CLASSIFICATION:O31; F23; L25; M10; M16

The disruption of the trade and investment activities of multinational enterprises as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic has reinvigorated the debate on the configuration of global value chains (GVCs) as well as the risks and challenges associated with offshoring. This article depicts how the pandemic might affect GVC configuration by driving a trend toward a more regional footprint in industries in which resilience and reliability are critical. Such a shift would create new opportunities for reshoring, and affect both the types of upgrading trajectories and the governance systems in value chains. The article also draws from the intersection of the global-strategy and value-chain fields to propose potential topics and avenues for further research related to these trends.JEL Classification: M16, M21, M14

The purpose of this article is twofold: to bring back to discussion the importance of strategy as a key element for international new ventures (INVs) to achieve higher international performance and to assess the relevance of contingency perspective, particularly two organizational contingency factors (internationalization duration and internationalization preparation), in moderating the strategy–performance relationship. The framework developed addresses the effects of four competitive strategies (cost leadership and innovation-based, marketing-based, and quality- and service-based differentiation) as determinants of INVs’ international performance. In addition, internationalization duration and internationalization preparation are included as moderators of these relationships. The hypotheses were tested using a sample of 319 INVs. The findings show that marketing and quality and service differentiation strategies are associated with higher INVs’ international performance and that internationalization duration and internationalization preparation play relevant moderating effects.JEL CLASSIFICATION:M13; M16

This study explores both the individual impact of geographical diversification and its effect combined with product diversification on small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) performance. Unlike most prior studies, this study distinguishes between related and unrelated product diversification. The research setting is a sample of manufacturing SMEs (1994–2014). By using dynamic panel data models, the results provide statistical support for the existence of a horizontal S-shaped relationship between geographical diversification and performance. The findings also indicate that while related product diversification positively enhances the performance of those SMEs engaged in geographical diversification (albeit not indefinitely), unrelated product diversification may significantly impair it, especially for SMEs opting for low and high levels of international diversification. Our study reveals that product and international diversification strategies in the case of SMEs are complementary or substitutive strategies depending on the specific type of product diversification strategy and the level of geographical diversification adopted.JEL CLASSIFICATION: F23; L25; M16

This article deals with two important concepts in the prior literature on the internationalization process: age at entry and export experience. Against previous research, we analyze how both of them influence simultaneously international behavior in the early stages of the internationalization process as a trade-off. For that aim, we analyze the influence of both variables on international behavior in the early stages of the internationalization process, from a dynamic perspective, looking at initial export behavior and speed during this period. We analyze export development process of 106 Spanish small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), most of them international new ventures, in their first 8 years of export activity, combining the effect of age at entry and experiential learning during this period, finding that age at entry and export experience exert not only a direct effect but also a moderation influence on initial export development, observing a trade-off between such influence as experience grows.JEL CLASSIFICATION:M16

This article examines the role of networks and global value chains (GVCs) and how they influence emerging economy small- and medium-sized enterprises’ (EE-SMEs) internationalization. Drawing on the insights, experiences, and perspectives of entrepreneurs and senior managers of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have originated from China, the study adopts qualitative approach and examines nine firms’ internationalization. We find that Chinese born-global manufacturing SMEs benefit from networks with quick insidership position into GVCs, but suffer from various obstacles that hinder their further development. The findings further indicate that network ties substantially facilitate EE-SMEs’ internationalization, but also restrict their future global development, as their low position within the GVCs impedes further business development and capability building. The case firms’ lower position within the GVCs weakens the networks’ influence on their GVC upgrading. The research identifies key enablers of GVC engagement and obstacles of GVC upgrading of the case firms which play an important role in the EE-SMEs’ internationalization.JEL CLASSIFICATION:M10; M16