دانلود رایگان مقاله قابلیت پورتفلیوی شرکت در سراسر گسترش بین المللی رویکرد طبقه نهفته

abstract

Resource-based view suggests that heterogeneity in resource and capability endowments provides firms with a necessary advantage to compete on foreign markets. Separate discussions focus on different perspectives on capabilities, leaving room for a more comprehensive approach. This study is aiming at combining previous results and proposes that international expansion requires a bundle of key capabilities, a capability portfolio, in which capabilities' relative importance varies as internationalization proceeds. This study is also one of the first attempts to use a questionnaire in which only yes/no answer is possible. The authors develop a method to handle binary data and use finite mixture structural equation modeling (FMSEM) to reveal three differently behaving latent classes, the preparing international, the novice international, and the experienced international. Findings indicate that the time of initial entry is an important watershed in terms of how firms allocate their financial resources between key capabilities, a manifestation of higher-order capabilities.

4. Discussion

The results in this study show that even a small data sample may contain latent classes that employ a different bundle of capabilities, which clearly indicate that firms' capability portfolios vary throughout international expansion. Analyses uncover three latent classes – the preparing international (23.7%), the novice international (28.9%), and the experienced international (47.4%). Preparing internationals operate in the domestic markets but have an aspiration to internationalize. Novice internationals have initiated their international expansion, and experienced internationals are already operating either in multiple countries or have otherwise increased their commitment in the foreign markets. The only identical element in each latent class is the relationship between financial resources and research and development capabilities (R&D). Although the relationship is significant in all latent classes, its role diminishes as the firms' international commitment increases. Marketing capabilities and sales capabilities appear not until the initial expansion takes place and this finding supports Kumar's (2009) notion that international business requires a distinctive bundle of resources and capabilities; their domestic counterparts rarely suit foreign markets.