International entrepreneurship in innovative SMEs: Examining the connection between CEOs’ dynamic managerial capabilities, business model innovation and export performance

Joan Merín-Rodrigáñez, Joaquín Alegre and Àngels Dasí

International Business Review, 2025, vol. 34, issue 2

Abstract: International entrepreneurship scholars aim to understand how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) achieve long-term competitive advantage and international success. This paper examines how business model innovation (BMI) helps entrepreneurial and innovative SMEs in improving export performance suggesting that changes in value creation, value delivery, and value capture are required to target international customers effectively. Additionally, drawing on the dynamic managerial capabilities literature, we look at the role of CEOs’ managerial capabilities on BMI. A quantitative study using partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM) was conducted on 189 innovative Spanish SMEs operating in business-to-business (B2B) international markets. Our findings provide new insights into the underexplored relationship between BMI and export performance generating new evidence regarding the mechanisms through which innovative SMEs may improve export performance. We also highlight the positive relevance of CEOs’ managerial social capital (external connectivity) and managerial cognition (empowering leadership) to foster BMI. Finally, managerial implications and future research directions are proposed.

Keywords: Dynamic managerial capabilities; CEOs; Business model innovation; Export performance; Innovative SMEs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1016/j.ibusrev.2024.102321

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