1、 外文翻译 原文 The Internationalization of Small and Medium-Sized Firms Material Source: Small Business Economics Author: Dirk De Clercq ABSTRACT: This paper contributes to the existing researchby integrating the notions of organizational learning and entrepreneurial orientation into the body of internati
2、onal entrepreneurship. Our primary framework combines learning theory and the new venture theory of internationalization to study the extent to which small and medium-sized companies engage in international activities. We found that the firms international learning effort and entrepreneurial orienta
3、tion are positively associated with internationalization intent whereas domestic learning effort is negatively related with internationalization intent. Overall, our results suggest (1) that intensive knowledge renewal and exploitation regarding foreign markets and the internationalization process i
4、tself may increase internationalization by affecting the perceptions ofopportunities offered by further international expansion, and(2) that firms with an entrepreneurial mindset may be more likely to develop along-term, substantial presence in the international arena, compared to firms that are mor
5、e reactive or conservative. 1 .Introduction Previous researchers have examined why firms internationalize and at what pace they engage in cross-border activities (Berra et al., 1994; Caloff and Viviers, 1995; Crick et al., 2001; Johanson and Vahlne, 1977; Johanson and Vahlne, 1990). Also, prior rese
6、arch has examined the impact of learning-oriented factors in explaining a firms commitment to international activities (Ogbuehi and Longfellow, 1994; Autio et al., 2000; Burpitt and Rondinelli, 2000). For instance, Burpitt and Rondinelli (2000) found that firms may be more likely to increase their e
7、xporting activities when they consider the amount of learning resulting from international activities as being highly valuable. In this study, we partly rely on the behavioral view of the firm to further examine learning-based antecedents of a firms internationalization intent (Cyert and March, 1963
8、). The behavioral view of internationalization focuses on the impact of international experience on the pace and direction of subsequent internationalization (Johanson and Vahlne, 1977). An important theme in the behavioral view is the role of organizational knowledge in the internationalization pro
9、cess. In this study we use organizational learning theory for examining a firms propensity to invest in future cross-border activities (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990; Autio et al., 2000). Whereas prior research has often operationalized a firms degree of internationalization as its level of export (for
10、example, Campbell, 1996; Crick et al., 2001), we define “internationalization intent“ as a firms propensity to expand its cross-border activities in terms of the intensity (for example, level of export) and the scope (for example, number of countries to which the firm exports) of such activides. One
11、 contribution of our study lies in our creating a measure for organizational learning effort as an antecedent of internationalization intent. We define organizational learning effort as activities aimed at exploiting existing knowledge and exploring new knowledge with regard to domestic and foreign
12、markets. Some researchers have criticized the behavioral view for over-emphasizing the impact of organizational experience on internationalization efforts (Aharoni, 1966). That is, it has been argued that Johanson and Vahlnes framework does not explain why some firms engage in cross-border activitie
13、s early on or why they proceed rapidly once first internationalization has taken place. For instance, McDougall et al. (1994) argued that firms may internationalize early because a top management team with previous international experience may be willing and able to pursue new combinations of key re
14、sources across national borders early on in the firms existence. In short, some researchers have recognized more explicitly the role of a firms strategic choice and entrepreneurial character in the decision to enter the international arena (Child, 1972; McDougall and Oviatt, 2000). This recent strea
15、m of research, the new venture theory of internationalization, examines how competencies influence a firms strategic choice to engage in cross-border activities (McDougall, 1989; McDougall and Oviatt, 2000). Our primary framework combines learning theory, with its roots in the behavioral theory of t
16、he firm, and the new venture theory of internationalization (Cyert and March, 1963; Cohen and Levinthal, 1990; McDougall and Oviatt, 2000). First, we look explicitly at how knowledge development and renewal with regard to foreign and domestic activities may have an impact on perceptions about the op
17、portunities offered by further internationalization. Second, we examine the effect of entrepreneurial orientation on a firms internationalization intent. We draw our analysis on small Belgian firms that have engaged in cross-border activity. As with prior research on firm internationalization in sma
18、ll European countries (Johanson and Vahlne, 1977; Autio et al., 2000), Belgium provides an interesting setting in which to examine internationalization in that cross-border activity is often a necessity given the limited domestic market size, yet many firms still avoid starting or expanding internat
19、ional activities for a significant period of time (Eriksson et al. 1997; Autio et al., 2000). As mentioned earlier, the behavioral theory of internationalization assumes that international expansion can be described as a process in which the firm goes through incremental steps that reduce the uncert
20、ainty embedded in cross-border activity (Aharoni, 1966; Prasad, 1999). Basing their arguments on the experience of Swedish companies, Johanson and Vahlne (1977, 1990) explained both the pace and direction of subsequent international activities. For instance, they argued that a firm might change grad
21、ually the nature of its activities within a foreign country, that is, from only export to fully-owned overseas production investments, as well as across countries by expanding over time to countries that are more physically and culturally distant. Similarly, Calof and Viviers (1995) found that Canad
22、ian and South African firms preferred to gradually learn about the international arena by entering first markets that are perceived to be less risky-that is, being geographically and culturally close to the domestic market-before entering “more risky“ distant markets. In short, the behavioral approa
23、ch towards internationalization focuses on a firms gradually increasing international involvement through a series of incremental steps. An important driver for increasing international commitment is the development of knowledge relevant to foreign markets. In this study we argue that prior research
24、 in organizational learning theory may provide a good framework for explaining in detail how activities aimed at knowledge development and renewal may foster cross-border activity. We posit that organizational learning effort pertains to activities aimed at both building on existing knowledge and de
25、veloping new knowledge (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990). This description of learning effort is consistent with prior research that argued that organizational learning includes two modes, that is, exploitation and exploration (Levinthal and March, 1993). Exploration involves the search for new knowledge,
26、 skills and processes, whereas exploitation involves the incremental improvement of existing knowledge, skills and processes. Levinthal and March (1993) indicated that exploitation by itself may not be sufficient in the long run to maintain a competitive advantage, since the environment in which an
27、organization operates changes over time. Therefore, we conceptualize organizational learning effort as the extent of effort to both exploit existing knowledge and to explore for new knowledge. Such effort may be aimed at learning inside home country borders (that is, domestic learning effort) or out
28、side these borders (that is, international learning effort). The sample in our study was drawn from a database maintained by the Center of Entrepreneurship at the Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School in Belgium. The sample includes firms that are independent (that is, they are not subunits of a lar
29、ge organization) and owner-managed. We considered only firms with fewer than 500 employees to be included in the study, a figure consistent with Seringaus (1993) and Moini (1995) for the definition of small and medium-sized enterprises. In the Spring of 2000, we collected the data based on surveys m
30、ailed to the owners or top executives of 500 firms randomly selected from the database; we received 92 completed surveys, which repre-Bents a response rate of 18070 (the survey items appear in the Appendix). In order to test for possible non-response bias, early respondents were compared with late r
31、espondents, as it has been suggested that late respondents, especially after follow-up, may be relatively similar to non-respondents (Armstrong and Overton, 1977; Churchill, 1991). We found no statistically Big-nificant differences between early and late respondents for the variables under study. In
32、 addition to the survey data, we also undertook exploratory interviews with some of the respondents in order to facilitate the interpretation of the quantitative results (see discussion section). Finally, we also collected sales data for 1999 from a database maintained by the National Bank of Belgiu
33、m. The positive relationship between international learning effort and internationalization intent indiGates that efforts aimed explicitly at knowledge renewal and exploitation with regard to specific foreign markets and the internationalization process in general increase the propensity to expand c
34、ross-border activities. As mentioned earlier, the rationale for this positive relationship may lie in the role of foreign knowledge in diminfishing the uncertainty embedded in international expansion, or in increasing the willingness to leverage this knowledge in additional cross-border activities.
35、The quantitative support for this relationship was also confirmed by the exploratory interviews with some of the sampled firms. For instance, Sarens, a firm active in renting and selling movable cranes for the construction sector, had developed deep organizational knowledge with regard to safety reg
36、ulations and planning of construction projects in countries that were geographically close to the domestic market. This knowledge motivated the firm, then, in further competing for large-scale projects worldwide; that is, even for unknown distant countries, the firms top management believed that the
37、 specific knowledge of individual workers and the organizational know一 how was strong enough to bring such projects to a successful end. The results of this study may clarify the factors leading to or inhibiting additional international activity among small firms in an economy with limited domestic
38、opportunities for growth. Our results suggest that intensive knowledge renewal and exploitation regarding foreign markets and the internationalization process itself may increase internationalization by affecting the perceptions of opportunities offered by further international expansion. Also, firm
39、s that engage in radical innovation, undertake bold, aggressive actions, or are willing to assume risks, may be more likely to develop a long-term, substantial presence in the international arena, compared to firms that are more reactive or conservative. Finally, our results suggest that internation
40、al and domestic learning activities are complementary: they tend to covary, and they tend to be related in the same ways with entrepreneurial orientation; however, our results also suggest that firms that invest in domestic learning activities, as opposed to international learning activities, may be
41、 less likely to internationalize further; this may ultimately hamper firm success in the long term. 译文 中小企业的国际化 资料来源 : Small Business Economics 作者： Dirk De Clercq 摘要： 本文通过整合组织学习的概念和企业进入国际市场的创业导向，有助于对现有研究的贡献。 我们的主要框架是结合学习理论和中小企业在国际活动中的新的企业理论。我们发现，公司努力学习国际化并且其创业导向很积极与国际化的意图有着很大的关系，而国内相关的学习与国际化的意图是负相关。
42、总的来说，本文的结论表明：（ 1）密集的知识更新和关于国外的市场开发有可能通过增加国际影响进一步扩 大国际化。（ 2）那些有着积极创业心态的企业相比较那些敏感的或者说保守的企业来说，更有可能在国际舞台上长时间并且稳定地存在。 早前的学者对于企业为什么进行国际化和以什么样的步调进行企业的跨国境经营活动进行了研究 (Berra et al., 1994; Caloff and Viviers, 1995; Crick et al., 2001; Johanson and Vahlne, 1977; Johanson and Vahlne, 1990)。 另外，先前的研究解释了企业在致力于国际化经营
43、过程中，学习型因素 的影响作用 (Ogbuehi and Longfellow, 1994; Autio et al., 2000; Burpitt and Rondinelli, 2000)。例如，在 2000年， Burpitt and Rondinelli研究指出：当一个企业认为国际化经营活动对于他们企业效益作用明显时，就会增加企业的出口活动。在本文研究中，我们部分地依赖于企业国际化经营的意图，以期进一步研究企业国际化经营的现状及策略(Cyert and March, 1963)。 企业国际化行为观点的侧重点在于：国际化经验在 整个国际化经营活动中对于步调和方向上的影响 (Johanso
44、n and Vahlne, 1977)。在行为观点中，一个重要的主题是：在企业国际化经营过程中，组织知识的重要性。在本文研究中，我们利用组织知识理论来研究企业在将来的跨国境经营活动中投资的倾向性(Cohen and Levinthal, 1990; Autio et al., 2000)。然而，先前的研究已经证实了可以用一个企业的出口水平来作为该企业国际化经营程度的标准 (比如 , Campbell, 1996; Crick et al., 2001)。在本文中，我们定义以“国际化意图”作为一个企业扩大跨国境经营活动强度的标准。该强度包括出口水平以及出口的范围。本文的重要贡献在于我们提出了企业
45、在国际化经营意图中，组织学习措施。我们将组织学习定义为：关于国内和国外市场上探索现有知识和开发新知识的活动。 一些学者批判了过分强调组织经验在企业国际化经营活动中作用的影响这一观点 (Aharoni, 1966)。也就是说， Johanson and Vahlne 的理论框架并没有解释为什么企业在早前会从事国际化经营活动或者说为什么第一个国际化经营活动发生时他们会立 刻跟着效仿。 例如， McDougall在 1994年指出，企业在早前进行国际化经营可能跟企业的高层管理团队有关，他们往往富有充足的国际化经验，愿意并且有能力通过关键资源的优化组合，在企业的存在期间来进行跨国境的经营活动。总之，一
46、些学者已经更加明确地意识到，企业的战略选择和企业家精神在进入国际化舞台决定中的重要作用 (Child, 1972; McDougall and Oviatt, 2000)。最新的研究趋势是，新的企业国际化经营理论解释了在企业进行跨国境经营活动时，企业组织能力对于战略选择的影响 (McDougall, 1989; McDougall and Oviatt, 2000)。本文的基本框架结合了学习理论、企业行为理论的根源和新的企业国际化经营理论 (Cyert and March, 1963; Cohen and Levinthal, 1990; McDougall and Oviatt, 2000)
47、。首先，我们清楚地看到，关于国际和国内贸易活动知识的发展和更新对通过进一步国际化经营活动获得机会的观点有可能产生影响。第二，我们研究了创业导向对于企业国际化意图的影响。主要通过一个小型的比利时企业的跨国境经营活动的实例，得出了该分析的结论。正如先前对于几个欧洲小国的企业国际化的研究 (Johanson and Vahlne, 1977; Autio et al., 2000)， Belgium提出了一个有趣的设置，可以检测一个企业进行跨国境经营活动的国际化程度，而这些对于国内市场规模有限的企业来说很有必要，但是也不可否认，目前为止还有很多企业没有开始进行企业的国际化经营 (Eriksson et al. 1997; Autio et al., 2000)。 我们的研究表明，密集的知识更新和关于国外市场、企业自 身国际化进程的开发，从而不断提升企业的国际化经营能力。其次，企业进行大胆创新并且愿意承担风险，往往更容易稳定长期地活跃在国际舞台上。最后，本文指出，关于国际和国内的学习活动是相辅相成的：在创业导向方面，两者趋近于联系的共变；但本文研究数据也显示，部分企业过分注重国内贸易，这对于公司国际化经营以及长远发展会有阻碍作用。
