SME Foreign Market Entry Mode Choice and Foreign Venture Performance.

Firms' foreign market entry mode choice attracted considerable research attention over the last years, yet with inconclusive findings regarding performance implications. This paper develops a theoretical model tailored to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in order to study the boundary conditions of the SME entry mode choice and performance association. Testing our hypotheses on 124 German SMEs, we show that a resource (i.e., international experience) and a capability (i.e., product adaptation) substitute resource commitment and control, while simultaneously safeguarding against foreign market risks. Our findings contribute to the SME entry mode literature and have implications for practitioners and future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]