Factors Affecting the Internationalization of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in South Korea: Entrepreneurial Orientation, Human Capital and Technological Capabilities

Kang-Sik Kim
Additional contact information
Kang-Sik Kim: School of Business, Korea Aerospace University, Seoul, South Korea.

International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, 2017, vol. 7, issue 5, 371-379

Abstract: Internationalization provides SMEs with many strategic benefits. However, for many SMEs it is not easy to carry out internationalization successfully due to limited resources and capabilities. In order to accomplish an efficient and effective internationalization, it is crucial to grasp the determinants of SME internationalization and their relationship to the firm internationalization. This paper investigates the factors affecting the degree of internationalization of SMEs in South Korea. This study further explores how the international orientation of entrepreneur, the employee human capital, the technological capabilities of a firm, and the external environment might explain the degree of SME internationalization. The findings indicate that entrepreneurial orientation and investment in employee human capital are the critical factors for explaining the internationalization of South Korean SMEs. In addition, we find that technology turbulence and market similarity moderate these relationships, based on the analysis of data collected from 150 South Korean SMEs. The results imply that managers of SMEs should consider these internal and external factors in order to enhance their performance in international markets.

Keywords: internationalization; SMEs; entrepreneur orientation; human capital; Korea (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F23 M13 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.econjournals.com/index.php/ijefi/article/download/5463/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.econjournals.com/index.php/ijefi/article/view/5463/pdf (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eco:journ1:2017-05-44

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues is currently edited by Ilhan Ozturk

More articles in International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues from Econjournals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Ilhan Ozturk ().