 The inception of internationalization of small and medium enterprises: The role of activeness and networksLuciano Ciravegna, Sara B. Majano and Ge Zhan Journal of Business Research, 2014, vol. 67, issue 6, 1081-1089 Abstract: This study analyzes how exporters begin their internationalization leveraging information collected through interviews with 109 Chinese textile manufacturers. It examines whether firms that found their first international clients through a “proactive” search are likely to export faster, more intensively, and to a larger number of markets. The findings illustrate that the proactiveness of the search for the first client in a foreign market is an important predictor of the intensity and geographic scope of the firm's internationalization path but not of its speed. They support the view of internationalization as an actively pursued entrepreneurial process, which may also be affected by serendipitous events. This study provides new evidence on the first international business discovery of Chinese exporters, contributing to the literature on international entrepreneurship, international new ventures and the network approach to internationalization. Keywords: International entrepreneurship; Export inception; Opportunity discovery; Foreign market entry; Proactiveness; Networks; China; Textiles; Entrepreneurial firms; SMEs (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:67:y:2014:i:6:p:1081-1089 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2013.06.002 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Business Research is currently edited by A. G. Woodside More articles in Journal of Business Research from Elsevier |
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