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This article aims to explore how cluster affiliation moderates the relationship between family involvement and speed of internationalization in family firms. The speed of internationalization is examined in terms of earliness and post-internationalization speed.

The research is based on a sample of 639 Portuguese family businesses (FBs) created and internationalized between 2010 and 2018 that was retrieved from the Iberian Balance Analysis System – SABI database. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to assess the measurement and construct the model.

The results suggest that higher levels of family involvement in ownership and management make family firms enter on international markets in later stages of their development but, after the first international market entry, the firms are able to exhibit a higher post-internationalization speed. When considering the effect of cluster affiliation, the authors found that clustered FBs are more likely to engage in early internationalization and to accelerate the post-internationalization process than non-clustered FBs.

The study's findings are explained by the existence of socially proximate relationships with other cluster members, based on similarity, trust, knowledge exchange and sense of belonging, which push family firms to internationalize and increase their level of international commitment over time. The empirical evidence, therefore, highlights the primary role of industrial clusters in moderating the relationship between family involvement, earliness of internationalization and post-internationalization speed.

The speed of internationalization is an important research topic in the process of internationalization. This paper aims to answer two questions: first, what is the relationship between the speed of internationalization of Chinese multinational firms and their performance? Second, how do potential slack and knowledge assets of firms affect this relationship?

The authors choose Chinese A-share listed manufacturing firms from 2009–2018 as the research sample and use the fixed-effect regression model to test the proposed hypotheses.

Firstly, there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between the speed of internationalization and firm performance (SI-P). Secondly, the potential slack and knowledge assets of firms moderate the inverted U-shaped relationship. Firms with a higher level of potential slack or knowledge assets have a flatter inverted U-shaped relationship between SI-P.

First, the authors develop and extend Penrose’s theory of firm growth to the research topic of speed of internationalization. Second, this paper incorporates the time dimension into the research on the internationalization process and locates the research context in emerging market firms (EMFs). This is a step forward in clarifying the complex relationship of SI-P. Third, the authors show that the SI-P relationship of EMFs is inverted U-shaped and integrate previous studies, which argue that rapid internationalization positively or negatively affects firm performance. Fourth, starting from inside the firm, the authors provide more contextual factors for better understanding and analysis of the SI-P relationship.

The purpose of this paper is to study draws on the resource- and knowledge based views (RBV/KBV) of the firm to explain the internationalisation speed of retail firms.

The authors use a panel data set of 144 international retailers over a ten-year period and employ feasible generalised least squares analysis in order to assess the effect of intangible assets and international experience on internationalisation speed.

The results support direct effects of intangible assets and international experience, while the latter effect is also moderated by firms’ home-region concentration.

The study investigates the determinants of retailers’ internationalisation speed. While research stresses the positive performance effects of rapid internationalisation, future research should investigate the role of internationalisation speed for the performance of retailers empirically. The findings support the usefulness of adopting a RBV/KBV for explaining internationalisation speed.

The findings imply that firms need to have particular intangible resources before being able to internationalise rapidly. They also show that decision-makers need to be mindful of the effects of international experience in allowing them to expand overseas both within and outside their home region.

There has been very little research into the speed with which firms in general and service sector firms in particular expand their operations internationally. Through a theory-based analysis of a newly created panel data set this study provides novel insights into the factors that lead retail firms to internationalise rapidly.

Drawing on the gender self-schema theory, upper echelons theory and the literature on international business, this study aims to examine the impact of board gender diversity on firms' internationalization speed.

In this study, secondary data of 886 listed Chinese manufacturing firms from 2009 to 2018 are studied using the ordinary least squares regression model as the baseline method, an instrumental variable method is adopted for endogeneity control and both fixed and random effect models are adopted for the robustness test.

Board gender diversity reduces firms' internationalization speed, and the negative effect between board gender diversity and internationalization speed is stronger when the average age of female directors is older and weaker when female directors have international experience or financial background.

First, Chinese firms need to increase or decrease board gender diversity to match the board to firms' internationalization strategy. Increasing board gender diversity may be a more appropriate choice for firms that are expanding rapidly internationally, and vice versa. Second, when introducing female directors to international firms, it is essential to address other characteristics of these directors beyond their gender.

First, the authors contribute to the literature on board gender diversity using Chinese manufacturing firms as our research sample, which provides new insights into the economic consequences of increasing the number of female directors. Second, this research contributes to the literature on firms' internationalization speed. Third, the authors capture in more detail the economic consequences of increasing board gender diversity in the context of China.

This study applies Oviatt and McDougall’s (2005) model of forces influencing the speed of internationalisation to small, export oriented enterprises. The purpose of this paper is to explore the significance of the forces enabling, motivating, mediating and moderating internationalisation in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and the manner in which these forces manifest themselves in the market.

A qualitative research approach utilising eight case studies within Norway and Ireland was adopted in order to facilitate theory building required for this study.

The findings demonstrate that four forces in particular are found to be strongly significant to the speed of internationalisation among the case SMEs: the enabling force of technology, the mediating force of entrepreneurial actor perceptions/owner-managers’ global vision and the moderating forces of foreign market knowledge and tie strength in networks.

The empirical evidence has several implications for managers and policy regarding influencing the speed of internationalisation process. The enabling force (technology) has implications for government in their support of the SME macro environment. The motivating force (competition) has implications for government, in understanding what motivates entrepreneurs to enter international markets. The two moderating forces (foreign market knowledge and network tie strength) have implications for managers and can be leveraged through product innovation, increased focus on intellectual property rights for better protection against copycats, and through active and deliberate international networking.

The paper suggests adjustments to Oviatt and McDougall’s (2005) model, permitting researchers to gain an in-depth understanding of the complex reality of SME internationalisation.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate exploration and exploitation as antecedents to speed of internationalization in born global firms.

By using 150 born global firms in China, the authors demonstrate that the influence of exploration and exploitation on born globals’ speed of internationalization. The statistical method in this study is hierarchical regression model.

The results revealed that exploration has a negative effect on the internationalization of born global firms, whereas exploration does not. The interaction between exploration and exploitation has positive influence on born globals’ speed of internationalization.

The study helps entrepreneurs and managers to better understand how to achieve international entrepreneurship success and internationalization success.

This study makes a theoretical development of internationalization speed, a core aspect of international entrepreneurship theory. First, this study contributes to theories on born globals’ speed of internationalization, which the authors redefined in the current study by using two approaches to measure the speed of internationalization of born global firms. Second, the study used exploration and exploitation as the two designated factors that are supposed to affect the speed of internationalization of born globals which contributes to the theoretical literature of international opportunity.

This paper aims to investigate the moderating roles of negative attainment discrepancy and state ownership in the relationship between internationalization speed and firm innovation.

Panel fixed-effects regressions model was applied to test the influence of internationalization speed on firm innovation using data collected from Chinese listed companies between 2003 and 2017.

The internationalization speed can positively promote firm innovation. Moreover, negative attainment discrepancy enhances the effect of internationalization speed on firm innovation. The effect of negative attainment discrepancy on internationalization speed and firm innovation performance is more positive in state-owned firms than in non-state-owned firms.

A suitable time of internationalization speed to affect firm innovation is obtained.

This paper suggests that decision-makers should set an appropriate aspiration to internationalize firms and increase firm innovation. Moreover, state-owned enterprises should pay attention to negative attainment discrepancies.

The study revealed the boundary conditions of negative attainment discrepancy and state ownership on the relationship between internationalization speed and firm innovation, contributing to the theoretical advancements in internationalization speed.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the performance implications of internationalization strategies for Chinese multinational corporations (MNCs). Specifically, the authors examine the individual and joint effects of speed of internationalization in developed and developing countries and age on Chinese MNCs’ performance.

The authors constructed a unique and comprehensive database on the internationalization strategies of 206 Chinese firms over 14 years and deployed random-effect regressions to assess the effects of age, speed of expansion in terms of number of subsidiaries and countries, and the types of destination (developed vs developing country) on firm performance.

The analyses show that age is negatively related to performance but rapid expansion of subsidiaries in developing countries and geographic scope in developed countries are positively related to performance. In addition, the impacts of young age and two types of expansion, fast expansion of subsidiaries in developing countries and fast expansion of geographic scope in developed countries, are cumulative.

The authors combine the arguments of the learning advantages of newness and fast movers and model the simultaneous effects of age and speed of two types of international expansion (in terms of number of subsidiaries and countries) in both developed and developing countries on performance. The strong empirical support for the hypotheses based on analyses of a unique data set of Chinese MNCs’ internationalization patterns lends credence to the proposed model.

This study aims to bridge the gap between firms' internationalization speed research and the emerging study of the interface of a top management team (TMT) and a middle management team (MMT). Accordingly, this study examines the effect of TMT output function and the moderating effect of similarity between TMT and MMT in functional background and international experience on internationalization speed.

A two-way fixed-effects approach is used to analyze a dataset of 1,040 observations.

The results suggest that an output-oriented TMT tends to promote rapid internationalization and that MMT members who are similar with TMT members in functional backgrounds and international experience may be more inclined to support and facilitate internationalization speed advocated by TMT.

This study highlights the importance of demographic similarity between TMT and MMT in speeding up a firm's international expansion, thus advancing the notion that demographic similarity may align the perspectives and perceptions among multi-echelons, leading to consensus on strategy development.

Previous research features the international experience of managers in the decisions regarding internationalisation speed. However, the vitality of the role a chairperson plays in shaping the internationalisation decisions of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from emerging economies is intriguing. Moreover, the decision-making process and leadership context of SME internationalisation are not fully understood. Drawing upon the upper echelons decision-making theory and the cognitive perspectives of decision, this paper examines the impact of a chairperson's previous experience on the post-entry speed of internationalisation, highlighting the conditioning effects of leadership contingencies – the functional variety and power of the chairperson.

The study uses a panel data set of Chinese SMEs active from 2010 to 2019 to test the research hypotheses. A feasible generalised least-squares estimator was applied to test the hypotheses.

The results show that the international experience of a chairperson speeds up the depth and breadth of the post-entry speed of internationalisation. However, the strength of these relationships depends on the leadership context. The chairperson's functional variety alleviates the influence of international experience, whilst the power of the chairperson reinforces its impact.

The results show that the international experience of a chairperson speeds up the depth and breadth of the post-entry speed of internationalisation. However, the strength of these relationships depends on the leadership context. The chairperson's functional variety alleviates the influence of international experience, whilst the power of the chairperson reinforces its impact.