Innovativeness as a driver of the international expansion of developing markets’ firms
研究了发展中国家企业创新性（产品、组织、营销创新）对国际扩张的非线性影响，发现产品与组织创新呈U型关系，营销创新呈倒U型关系，且国际扩张显著提升企业绩效。
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the curvilinear effects of firm innovativeness (i.e. product, organisational and marketing innovation) on international expansion as well as the effect of expansion on performance in the developing countries (DCs) setting. Design/methodology/approach Research hypotheses are tested using survey data obtained from firms located in four South-East European DCs. Covariance-based structural equation modelling is used to test the proposed conceptual framework. Findings Empirical findings support the hypothesised U-shaped relationship between product innovation and organisational innovation and the level of international expansion of firms in developing markets. The authors found an inverse U-shaped relationship between marketing innovation and the level of international expansion. Furthermore, the existence of a strong positive link between the level of international expansion and firm performance is also confirmed. Research limitations/implications While this research utilises a sample of firms from a homogenous group of DCs, further research could use a more heterogeneous sample and thus control the model for various contingency effects (e.g. environment turbulence, market structure and competitive dynamics). Practical implications When it comes to product and organisational innovation, international expansion is achieved only with a higher level of innovativeness. On the contrary, beyond a certain level, further investments in marketing innovation do not have additional positive effects on international expansion. Originality/value This study is one of the first that explicitly focuses on examining the non-linear effects of innovativeness on international expansion in the DC context.