{"title":"Micro-multinational enterprises in Malaysia: the role of entrepreneurial orientation and regulatory institutions","authors":"Tze Cheng Chew","doi":"10.1007/s10843-023-00344-3","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>The research on international new ventures, particularly born global enterprises, has consistently held a central position in the internationalisation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). While a surge of studies has focused on the accelerated internationalisation of SMEs, less attention has been given to their entry modes. This oversight is rooted in the traditional belief that SMEs, due to their small size, are best suited for exclusive concentration on exporting. Contrary to this notion, researchers advocate for the consideration of higher-commitment entry modes, such as licensing, franchising, and joint ventures, leading to the conceptualisation of ‘mMNEs’ to describe this evolving category of internationalised SMEs. Consequently, there is a call for future studies to challenge traditional perceptions of SMEs and explore the determinants of mMNEs. Addressing this research gap, this study aims to examine the impact of entrepreneurial orientation (EO), encompassing innovativeness, proactiveness and risk-taking, as well as regulatory institutions on the likelihood of internationalised SMEs transitioning into mMNEs. Specifically, this study investigates two primary relationships: (1) the direct influence of innovativeness, proactiveness and risk-taking on mMNEs and (2) the moderating role of regulatory institutions on the association between EO and mMNEs. Drawing on a survey of 253 Malaysian internationalised SMEs and employing logistic regression analysis, the findings indicate that proactiveness and a propensity for risk-taking facilitate the adoption of higher-commitment entry modes. Additionally, supportive regulatory institutions enhance the likelihood of SMEs with high proactiveness and risk-taking propensity becoming mMNEs. These results contribute to a deeper understanding of how both internal factors (EO) and external factors (regulatory institutions) play crucial roles in explaining mMNEs behaviour.</p>","PeriodicalId":51562,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International Entrepreneurship","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2000,"publicationDate":"2023-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of International Entrepreneurship","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10843-023-00344-3","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BUSINESS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The research on international new ventures, particularly born global enterprises, has consistently held a central position in the internationalisation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). While a surge of studies has focused on the accelerated internationalisation of SMEs, less attention has been given to their entry modes. This oversight is rooted in the traditional belief that SMEs, due to their small size, are best suited for exclusive concentration on exporting. Contrary to this notion, researchers advocate for the consideration of higher-commitment entry modes, such as licensing, franchising, and joint ventures, leading to the conceptualisation of ‘mMNEs’ to describe this evolving category of internationalised SMEs. Consequently, there is a call for future studies to challenge traditional perceptions of SMEs and explore the determinants of mMNEs. Addressing this research gap, this study aims to examine the impact of entrepreneurial orientation (EO), encompassing innovativeness, proactiveness and risk-taking, as well as regulatory institutions on the likelihood of internationalised SMEs transitioning into mMNEs. Specifically, this study investigates two primary relationships: (1) the direct influence of innovativeness, proactiveness and risk-taking on mMNEs and (2) the moderating role of regulatory institutions on the association between EO and mMNEs. Drawing on a survey of 253 Malaysian internationalised SMEs and employing logistic regression analysis, the findings indicate that proactiveness and a propensity for risk-taking facilitate the adoption of higher-commitment entry modes. Additionally, supportive regulatory institutions enhance the likelihood of SMEs with high proactiveness and risk-taking propensity becoming mMNEs. These results contribute to a deeper understanding of how both internal factors (EO) and external factors (regulatory institutions) play crucial roles in explaining mMNEs behaviour.
期刊介绍：
Competition in international markets was traditionally the realm of large companies, with smaller firms tending to remain local or regional. Internationalisation was an expansion option of interest to some enterprises, but seldom was it a competitive necessity. Many opted to avoid the uncertainties of competing in foreign markets, and simply kept their firms small and local. Traditional internationalisation theories, therefore, focused mainly on large multinational corporations, and were less pertinent to smaller firms. With the liberalisation of trade, however, domestic firms are threatened by international competitors that are penetrating formerly protected markets. Nowadays, internationalisation affects everyone, whether or not they wish to internationalise themselves. The threats and opportunities of internationalisation must be addressed.
Globalisation is transforming the competitive environment of small and large players alike. As a result, internationalisation issues will continue to be increasingly important to business. Public policy agendas already include programmes to help entrepreneurs become successful at internationalisation. There is a growing need to understand internationalisation in the context of entrepreneurship, as well as large multinationals.
Knowledge of how, when and why firms internationalise - either incrementally or not - will surely be the focus of energetic researchers. Yet, up to now, academia has been lacking a journal dedicated to internationalisation issues. To fill this niche, the aforementioned editorial team wishes to offer an outlet for high-quality research addressing the opportunities and challenges intrinsic to internationalisation.
The primary audience for this journal will be researchers of entrepreneurship and international business. In addition, readership is certain to include business-people and policy-makers.
The editors invite submissions that analyse internationalisation, combining theore tical and empirical work. Researchers will be encouraged to conduct comparative studies, and to evaluate competing theories. The composition of the editorial team - including experts in international business and experts in entrepreneurship - is designed to avoid editorial bias. Every effort will be made to reach a first decision about a submission, within sixty days.
Officially cited as: J Int Entrep
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