Collaboration and Internationalization of SMEs: Insights and Recommendations from a Systematic Review

• Published date: 01 October 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/ijmr.12238
• Date: 01 October 2020

International Journal of Management Reviews, Vol. 22, 427–456 (2020)

DOI: 10.1111/ijmr.12238

Collaboration and Internationalization of

SMEs: Insights and Recommendations

from a Systematic Review

Nadia Zahoor,1Omar Al-Tabbaa ,2Zaheer Khan 3, 4 and Geoffrey Wood5

1Lancashire School of Business and Enterprise, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, PR1 2HE, UK, 2Kent

Business School, University of Kent, Canterbury, CT2 7NZ, UK, 3Aberdeen University Business School, University

of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB24 3QY, UK, 4School of Marketing and Communication, University of Vaasa, Vaasa,

65200, Finland, and 5DAN Department of Management & Organizational Studies, Western University, Ontario, N6A

2K7, Canada

Corresponding author email: zaheer.khan@abdn.ac.uk

This paper performs a systematic literature review of the undeniably diverse – and

somewhat fragmented – current state of research on the collaborations and interna-

tionalization of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Weanalyze key works and

synthesize them into a framework that conceptually maps key antecedents, mediators,

and moderators that influence the internationalization of SMEs. In addition, we high-

light limitations of the literature, most notably in terms of theoretical fragmentation;

extant theories are deployed and illustrated but rarely extended in a manner that sig-

nificantly informs subsequent work.At an applied (but related) level, we argue the need

for supplementary work that explores the distinct stages of internationalization – and

the scope and scale of this process – rather than assuming closure around particular

events. With this, wehighlight the need for more rigorous and empirically informed ex-

plorations of contextual effects that take account of the consequences of developments

in the global economic ecosystem.

Introduction

A considerable body of research has investigated how

small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) recog-

nize and take advantage of opportunities embedded

in international markets. Indeed, in most national

contexts, most internationalization activities are un-

dertaken by such enterprises (D’Angelo et al. 2016;

Gashi et al. 2014). While the internationalization of

SMEs is examined from a range of different perspec-

tives, a significant body of literature focuses on the

role of networks and collaborations.

Again, many scholars have highlighted the effect

of size and ownership (as organizational characteris-

tics) on the nature and dynamics of firms’ interna-

tionalization processes (Fernández and Nieto 2006;

Sadler-Smith et al. 2003; Zhang et al. 2016). How-

ever, it is notable that no unified scientific definition

exists of the precise constitution of an SME (Boc-

concelli et al. 2018; Motwani et al. 2006). Key cri-

teria include the number of employees, assets, and

scale of annual turnover,or a mixture of these f actors.

This issue becomes even more complicated when

such criteria are applied differently in different eco-

nomic regions (e.g. Europe vs. the USA) and sectors

(e.g. service vs. manufacturing) (Bocconcelli et al.

2018). Despite these discrepancies, it is agreed that

SMEs are subject to common constraining attributes,

such as limited human, financial, and informational

resources (Rogers 1990; Welsh and White 1981), a

lack of legitimacy abroad (Sapienza et al. 2006), and

limits in short-term resilience (Bradley et al. 2006).

Hence, an SME’s weak resource base is likely to

make the decision to enter into international markets

particularly challenging. Indeed, a significant amount

of research has been devoted to understanding how

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428 Zahoor et al.

SMEs can internationalize in the face of such

difficulties.

A prominent stream in this literature proposes that

interorganizational collaboration may help alleviate

these challenges (Chetty and Holm 2000; Oviatt and

McDougall 1994; Puthusserry et al. 2018). Such col-

laborative linkages help SMEs overcome their re-

source limitations (Coviello 2006; Lu et al. 2010),

establish legitimacy and credibility, and develop be-

spoke capabilities for international entry at lower

risks (Zhou et al. 2007). In other words, collaborative

internationalization may represent a major source of

competitive advantage for internationalizing SMEs.

Notwithstanding the considerable progress made

in the collaborative internationalization field, two

important limitations remain. First, research on this

topic is still fragmented, with a diverse evidencebase

(Lindstrand and Hånell 2017). Existing research

on collaborative internationalization in SMEs may

be roughly divided into two broad areas of inquiry,

one focusing on antecedents of collaborative inter-

nationalization and the other on its mediators and

moderators. Studies focusing on antecedents have

explored the relationship of firm and organizational

characteristics with internationalization outcomes

(Belso-Martínez 2006; Ciravegna et al. 2014b).

However, research on mediators/moderators has only

recently begun investigating the mediators and mod-

erators between antecedents and internationalization

outcomes (Felzensztein et al. 2019; Qian et al. 2018;

Nakos et al. 2019), leaving significant scope for fur-

ther investigation in this respect, especially given the

diversity within this literature. The second limitation

concerns the lack of clarity on the ways in which

SMEs attain different internationalization outcomes

(Ciravegna et al. 2014b). To date, a brief review

of network research in the area of entrepreneurship

can be found in the work of Jones et al. (2011), and

a broader review of the role of networks in early

internationalizing firms in the work of Bembom and

Schwens (2018). However, these studies offer limited

explanations of the variation of SMEs’ internation-

alization outcomes1(Ciravegna et al. 2014b).

1The heterogeneous structure of SMEs means that a

certain number of them decide to internationalize from

inception; these are termed born-global (Rennie 1993) or in-

ternational new ventures (Oviatt and McDougall 1994). Oth-

ers, however, known as born-again global SMEs (Bell et al.

2001), internationalize rapidly but operate after a few years

in the domestic market; yet others, termed traditional SMEs

(Graves and Thomas 2008), internationalize late, in reaction

Against this backdrop, this paper aims to review,

analyze, and critically synthesize the current state of

research into SMEs’ collaborative internationaliza-

tion, using the analysis to identify gaps in the liter-

ature and articulate potential areas for future studies.

In doing so, we make two important contributions.

First, we map the field of collaborative international-

ization in SMEs by analyzing and categorizing the

existing literature into specific interrelated themes.

Second, we synthesize the latter to develop an over-

arching framework that specifies the keyantecedents,

mediators, moderators, and outcomes, explaining the

connections between them. Furthermore, we deploy

this framework as a platform to discuss two key di-

rections for future research.

The remainder of the paper is organized into four

sections. The next section summarizes our method-

ology; it is followed by a synthesis of key trends,

theories, and perspectives on factors influencing in-

ternationalization in SMEs. The penultimate section

discusses the findings and presents directions for fu-

ture research. Our conclusions are reported in the last

section.

Methodology

To ensure a rigorous systematic literature review

(SLR) of published work on collaborative interna-

tionalization in SMEs, we adopted Denyer and Tran-

field’s (2009) multi-step review approach to assemble

and review the relevant literature. The four-step iter-

ative process (as outlined in Figure 1) ensures study

robustness and rigor by eliminating the subjectivity

in data collection and analysis found in traditional lit-

erature reviews (Cacciotti and Hayton2015; Tatli and

Özbilgin 2012). These four steps involve defining the

review questions, establishing the scope and bound-

aries of the review, study identification, the screening

and selection process, and analysis and synthesis.

Defining the review question

The literature on collaborative internationalization

and SMEs emerged almost 20 years ago (Chetty and

Holm 2000). So far, a number of questions have been

addressed, including collaborative internationaliza-

tion value, the organizational arrangements adopted

in building relationships, and contingency factors

to a particular event. Toensure an exhaustive review,we have

included all these types of SME.

© 2020 The Authors. International Journal of Management Reviews published by British Academy of Management and

John Wiley & Sons Ltd.