A Bird in the hand is worth two in the bush: How SMEs leverage different types of knowledge and networks during effectual internationalization
研究了中小企业如何利用国际化知识、客户网络知识和供应商网络知识，通过非预测性策略影响绩效，基于851家巴西、中国、意大利、波兰和瑞典企业的数据发现，国际化知识和供应商网络知识通过非预测性策略正向影响绩效，且国际化知识的作用在发达国家更强。
Internationalization literature uncritically treats different networks and knowledge as having the same impact on strategy and performance. Recognizing the need to approach these concepts in a more sophisticated way and inspired by Effectuation’s Bird-in-hand principle, we posit that internationalization knowledge, customer network knowledge, and supplier network knowledge influence performance while mediated by a non-predictive strategy. We combine six hypotheses in a structural model that we test on a sample of 851 SMEs from Brazil, China, Italy, Poland, and Sweden. The analysis supports the idea that non-predictive strategy mediates positive relationships between internationalization knowledge and supplier network knowledge, on the one side, and performance, on the other. The indirect relationship involving internationalization knowledge is stronger for SMEs in developed countries, but supplier network knowledge does not differ across groups. The analysis does not support the importance of customer network knowledge. We discuss theoretical and managerial implications of these findings.