Rev. Adm. (São Paulo) vol.51 número3

Revista

de

Administração

http://rausp.usp.br/ RevistadeAdministração51(2016)255–265

Strategy

and

business

economics

International

orientation

and

export

commitment

in

fast

small

and

medium

size

firms

internationalization:

scales

validation

and

implications

for

the

Brazilian

case

Orienta¸cão

internacional

e

comprometimento

exportador

na

rápida

internacionaliza¸cão

de

pequenas

e

médias

empresas:

valida¸cão

de

escalas

e

implica¸cões

para

o

caso

brasileiro

Orientación

internacional

y

compromiso

de

exportación

en

la

rápida

internacionalización

de

peque˜nas

y

medianas

empresas:

validación

de

escalas

e

implicaciones

para

el

caso

brasile˜no

Marcelo

André

Machado

,

Walter

Meucci

Nique

,

Felipe

Bentancur

Fehse

a_{UniversidadedoValedoRiodosSinos–UNISINOS,PortoAlegre,RS,Brazil} b_{UniversidadeFederaldoRioGrandedoSul–UFRGS,PortoAlegre,RS,Brazil}

Received18January2014;accepted11February2016

Abstract

Asetofchangesinthecompetitiveenvironmenthasrecentlyprovokedtheemergenceofanewkindoforganizationthathassinceitscreation ameaningfulshareofitsrevenuebeingoriginatedfrominternationalactivitiesdevelopedinmorethanonecontinent.Withinthisnewreality, theinternationalizationofthefirminphasesoraccordingtoitsgrowthhasresultedinitlosingitscapacitytoexplainthisprocesswithregardto small-andmedium-sizedenterprises(SME).Thus,inthispaper,theinternationalorientation(IO)andexportcommitment(EC)constructshave beenrevisedunderatheoreticalcontextofthefastinternationalizationofmedium-sizedcompanies,soastoidentifyscalesthatmoreaccurately measurethesedimensionsintheBraziliansetting.Afteraliteraturereviewandanexploratoryresearch,theIOandECscalesproposedbyKnight andCavusgil(2004)andShamsuddohaandAli(2006)wererespectivelyappliedtoasampleof398small-andmedium-sizedexportingBrazilian companies.InspiteofconjunctionandsituationdifferencesinherenttotheBraziliancompanies,theselectedscalespresentedhighmeasuring reliability.Furthermore,thefieldresearchoutcomesprovideevidencefortheexistenceofaphenomenonoffastinternationalizationinmedium-sized companiesinBrazil,aswellassupportsometheoreticalassumptionsofotherempiricalinvestigationscarriedoutwithsamplesfromdeveloped countries.

©2016DepartamentodeAdministrac¸˜ao,FaculdadedeEconomia,Administrac¸˜aoeContabilidadedaUniversidadedeS˜aoPaulo–FEA/USP. PublishedbyElsevierEditoraLtda.ThisisanopenaccessarticleundertheCCBYlicense(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Keywords:Small-andmedium-sizedfirminternationalization;BornGlobals;Internationalorientation;Exportcommitment

Resumo

Recentemente,umconjuntodemudanc¸asnoambientecompetitivomundialtrouxeàtonaumnovotipodeorganizac¸ãoemque,desdesuacriac¸ão, umaparcelasignificativadeseufaturamentoprovémdeatividadesinternacionaisdesenvolvidasemmaisdeumcontinente.Nessecontexto,o processodeinternacionalizac¸ãodeempresasporestágiosedecaráterincrementalperdeuseupoderexplicativonocasodessasnovaspequenase

∗_{Correspondingauthorat:AvenidaLuizManoelGonzaga,744,90470-280PortoAlegre,RS,Brazil.}

E-mail:mmachado@unisinos.br(M.A.Machado).

PeerReviewundertheresponsibilityofDepartamentodeAdministrac¸ão,FaculdadedeEconomia,Administrac¸ãoeContabilidadedaUniversidadedeSãoPaulo –FEA/USP.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rausp.2016.06.002

médiasempresas(PME).Assim,opresenteestudorevisouosconstrutosdaorientac¸ãointernacional(OI)edecomprometimentocomaexportac¸ão (CE),dentrodocampoteóricodarápidainternacionalizac¸ãodePMEs,paraidentificarescalasquemelhoraferissemessasdimensõesnocontexto brasileiro.Apósarevisãodeliteraturaeumapesquisaexploratória,asescalasdeOIeCEpropostasporKnighteCavusgil(2004)eShamsuddoha eAli(2006),respectivamente,foramaplicadasemumaamostrade398empresasbrasileirasexportadorasdepequenoemédioporte.Apesardas diferenc¸asconjunturaisesituacionaisinerentesàsempresasbrasileiras,asescalasselecionadasapresentaramelevadaconfiabilidadedemensurac¸ão. Ainda,osresultadosdapesquisadecampotrazemevidênciasdaexistênciadofenômenodarápidainternacionalizac¸ãodePMEsnoBrasil,bem comoreforc¸amalgunspressupostosteóricosdeoutrasinvestigac¸õesempíricasfeitascomamostrasdePMEsempaísesdesenvolvidos.

©2016DepartamentodeAdministrac¸˜ao,FaculdadedeEconomia,Administrac¸˜aoeContabilidadedaUniversidadedeS˜aoPaulo–FEA/USP. PublicadoporElsevierEditoraLtda.Este ´eumartigoOpenAccesssobumalicenc¸aCCBY(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Palavras-chave: Internacionalizac¸ãodepequenasemédiasempresas;Bornglobals;Orientac¸ãointernacional;Comprometimentoexportador

Resumen

Recientemente,unconjuntodecambiosenelambientecompetitivomundialhizoaparecerunnuevotipodeorganizaciónenque,desdesucreación, unapartesignificativadelafacturaciónprovienedeactividadesinternacionalesllevadasacaboenmásdeuncontinente.Enestecontexto,elproceso deinternacionalizacióndeempresasporetapasydecarácterincrementalperdiósupoderexplicativoenelcasodeestasnuevaspeque˜nasymedianas empresas(PYME).Así,enelpresenteestudioserepasaronlosconceptosdeorientacióninternacional(OI)ydecompromisoconlaexportación (CE),dentrodelcampoteóricodelarápidainternacionalizacióndePYME,paraidentificarescalasquemejorcotejasenestasdimensionesenel contextobrasile˜no.Despuésdelanálisisdelaliteraturayunestudioexploratorio,lasescalasdeOIyCEpropuestasporKnightyCayusgil(2004) yShamsuddohayAli(2006),respectivamente,fueronaplicadasaunamuestrade398empresasbrasile˜nasexportadoraspeque˜nasymedianas.A pesardelasdiferenciascoyunturalesysituacionalesinherentesalasempresasbrasile˜nas,lasescalasseleccionadaspresentaronelevadafiabilidad demedición.LosresultadosdelestudiodecampoaportanevidenciasdelaexistenciadelfenómenodelarápidainternacionalizacióndePYMEen Brasil,asícomorefuerzanalgunospresupuestosteóricosdeotrosestudiosempíricosrealizadosconmuestrasdePYMEenpaísesdesarrollados. ©2016DepartamentodeAdministrac¸˜ao,FaculdadedeEconomia,Administrac¸˜aoeContabilidadedaUniversidadedeS˜aoPaulo–FEA/USP. PublicadoporElsevierEditoraLtda.Esteesunart´ıculoOpenAccessbajolalicenciaCCBY(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Palabrasclave: Internacionalizacióndepeque˜nasymedianasempresas;Bornglobals;Orientacióninternacional;Compromisoconlaexportación

Introduction

A set of changes in the global competitive environment, mostnotablyfrom1990,broughtoutanewtypeofSmalland Medium Enterprises (SMEs) that, since its inception, have a significant portion of its revenues coming from international activities(Knight&Cavusgil,1996;Oviatt&Mcdougall,1994). Thisphenomenonhasreceivedseveralnames,includingthe fol-lowing:BornGlobals(BG),InternationalNewVentures,Global Start-ups,andInstantInternationals,amongothers(Rialp,Rialp, &Knight,2005).

ThephenomenonofrapidinternationalizationofSMEshas intriguedresearchersintherecentdecades(Chandra,Styles,& Wilkinson,2012),mainlyduetothepeculiarcharacteristicsof thistypeoforganizationandalsobecauseoftheircounteracting thecorollaryoftraditional theoriesthatexplaintheprocessof internationalization in companies (Knight& Cavusgil, 2005; Moen&Servais,2002;Oviatt&Mcdougall,1994).

Accordingtoseveralempiricalstudies,thefactorthatmost contributestotheearlyinternationalizationbehaviorofSMEsis thebeliefbytheirmanagersthatthetargetmarketisanymarket, whetherdomesticorinternational.Fortheexecutivesofthose companies,themarket,unlikethegradualinternational compa-nies,is global(Hagen &Zuchela,2014; Zhang,Tansuhaj, & McCullough,2009).

Thus,akey internalfactor of accelerated internationaliza-tioninSMEsmostresearched,evenconsideredanantecedent tothisphenomenon,isthemanagers’strongorientationtoward

foreignmarkets.Researcherswhoinvestigatedthisinternal his-tory of BG called such managers’ behavior as international orientation(IO)orglobalorientation(Knight&Cavusgil,1996, 2004;Kyvik,Saris,Bonet,&Felício,2013;Moen&Servais, 2002;Rialpetal.,2005;Zahra,2005).

Ontheotherhand,severalresearchershavenoticedthefact thatmanagerialattitudesalsoinfluencetheexportsofacompany, especiallyinthecaseofSMEs.Thoseattitudesareusually iden-tifiedasthecommitmentoforganizationalresources,promoted byitsmanagers,towardtheexportactivity(Leonidou,Katsikeas, &Piercy,1998;Mehran&Moini,2001;Sousa,Martínez-López, &Coelho,2008).ZouandCavusgil(2002)andCavusgiland Zou (1994) identified that the commitment of resources of a company towardexports hasadirect impacton the speed of internationalizationandtheglobalperformanceofthatcompany. Therefore,itisclearthattheBGsmanagersplayakeyrole intheirorganization’srapidinternationalization(Andersson& Floren, 2011; Kyvik et al., 2013); in addition, a subjective dimension, their international orientation(IO), and an objec-tivedimension,itsexportcommitment(EC),canhelpexplain the accelerated internationalization (Autio, 2005;Freeman & Cavusgil,2007;Johanson&Vahlne,2003;Knight&Cavusgil, 1996,2004;Rialpetal.,2005).

significant increase inBrazilian exports,which jumpedfrom US$31.4billionin1990toUS$242billionin2013(MDIC, 2014).OneshouldconsidertheexistenceofBornGlobalfirms inBrazil.Inaddition,75%ofBrazilianexportingcompaniesare micro-,small-andmedium-sized(MDIC,2014).

Therefore,theBrazilianSMEshaveexperiencedanew eco-nomic and competitive context that, since the 90s, has been consistentwiththeoccurrenceofSMEsthatinternationalizedin anacceleratedway,“jumping”stagesofthetraditionalprocess ofinternationalization.Dib,Rocha,andSilva(2010)statethat theBornGlobalphenomenonisnotlimitedtospecificcountries; however,companiesincountrieswithsmall domesticmarkets aremorelikelytobecomeBG.Itisclear,fromthisreality,that thereis a lack of studieson the rapid internationalization of SMEsinemergingcountrieswithlargedomesticmarket(Chetty &Campbell-Hunt,2004;Dibetal.,2010;Rialpetal.,2005).

In this sense, this article sought to answer the following researchquestion:howtoevaluatetheInternationalOrientation andExportCommitmentinthecaseofrapid internationaliza-tionofBrazilianSMEs?So,asageneralobjective,thispaper aimedtoverifytheexistenceofBrazilianBGfirmsandvalidate ascaletoassessthemanagersIOofSMEsandanotherscalethat measurestheECofthoseexecutives.Asspecificobjectivesof thestudy,itsoughtto(i)identifyscalesofIOandEConSME andBornGlobalsstudiesand(ii)exploresomeimplicationsfor BGstudyinBrazil.ThevalidationofIOandCEscalestothe contextofBrazilianSMEs,fromasampleof398companies,can contributetoadvanceknowledgeabouttherecentphenomenon ofBGcompanies,inadditiontodiscussing theexistence and characteristics ofthe rapidSMEsinternationalizationprocess fortheBraziliancase.

Therapidinternationalizationphenomenon

ThephenomenonofBornGlobalfirmsemergedasamajor themeofscientificresearchinthefieldofinternationalizationof companiesintheearly90s(McKinsey&Co.,1993;Oviatt& McDougall,1994;Rennie,1993;Rialpetal.,2005).Ganitsky (1989),inastudyofIsraelicompanies,drewattentiontoagroup oforganizationsthathavebeenestablishedspecificallytomeet foreignmarkets,whichhecalled“innateexporters”.

Otherresearcherssuch asOviatt andMcDougall(1994,p. 49)pointoutsomecommoncharacteristicsthatbringtogether thisparticulartypeof companies,definingthemas “organiza-tionsthat,sinceinception,seektoderivesignificantcompetitive advantagefromtheuseofresourcesandsaleoutputsinmultiple markets”.Forthem,thefocuswasnotonthesizebutontheage, thatmeansthetimebetweenthefoundationofthesecompanies andtheirentranceintotheinternationalmarket.

Knight(1997,p.1),inturn,saidthat“BornGlobalisdefined asacompanywhich,fromornearitsfounding,ornexttothis, seekstoderiveasubstantialportionofitsrevenuefromthesaleof itsproductsininternationalmarkets.”Theauthorpointsoutthat managersoftheseorganizationsseetheworldasasinglemarket withoutfrontiers.AccordingtoMadsenandServais(1997),BGs arecompaniesthatadoptaninternationalorglobalapproachto themarketsincebirthorshortlyafter.Perhapsthemoreprecise

criteria had been elaborated by Knight andCavusgil (1996). TheyarguethatBGhasatleast25%ofitsrevenuefrom over-seas sales,having startedits exportswithinthree yearsof its creation.

ButtheBornGlobaltermwascoinedasaresultofasurvey conducted by theAustralian ManufacturingCouncil in1993, whichinvestigated the reasonsfor the stronggrowth of Aus-tralianexportsinthe90sandcalledtheirattentiontoagroupof youngsmallbusinessesthathaveachievedgreatsuccesses seek-ing niche markets internationally, not domestically (Madsen, 2013;Rasmussen&Madsen,2002;Rennie,1993).

Afterthefindingsof theAustralianstudyandbyGanitsky (1989),severalotherstudieshavebeenconducted around the world in order to verify the occurrence of this phenomenon in different countries, their characteristics, background and consequences (Danik& Kowalik, 2013; Knight& Cavusgil, 1996;Moen&Servais,2002;Rialp etal., 2005).Thus,other termsandconceptsassociatedwiththerapid internationaliza-tionphenomenonhavebeendeveloped,suchastheexpression leapfrogging,reflectingthebehaviorofacompanythatjumps the earlystagesof involvementof the traditional model. The reasonsforthisbehaviorarerelatedtothehomogenizationof globalmarketsandthefactthattheinternationalizationof busi-nessnowfeaturesas akey strategyofthecompany(Madsen, 2013;Rasmussen&Madsen,2002).

Internationalorientation

ThefactorthatmostexplainstheBGphenomenon, accord-ingtoseveralempiricalstudies,isthevisionandguidanceof managers inrelationtothe internationalizationof these com-panies,thatis,themanager’sinternationalorientation(Danik& Kowalik,2013;McDougall,Oviatt,&Shrader,2003;Nummela, Saarenketo,&Puumalainen,2004).Knowledgeandexperience inforeign markets, treatedin variousstudiesas international entrepreneurial orientation, are significant antecedents to the performanceofthesecompaniesinforeignmarkets(Dibetal., 2010; Knight, 1997; Knight & Cavusgil, 2005; Rialp et al., 2005).

According toFreeman and Cavusgil(2007),the IO refers toawiderangeofdemographicandpsychological characteris-tics.Fortheseauthors,executiveswithinternationalorientation havehightolerancetopsychicdistancefrommarkets(Freeman, Hutchings, & Chetty, 2012), good educational background, internationalexperience,mastered foreignlanguages, areless aversetorisk andhavepositiveattitudetoward international-ization (Dib etal., 2010; Freeman etal., 2012; Zhang et al., 2009).

that would be distinct andadvanced intechnology (Freeman etal.,2012).Morerecently,Kyviketal.(2013)foundthatthe globalorientationorglobalmindsetisassociatedwithSME’s internationalizationspeed.

InternationalOrientationScales

Themanager’sinternationalorientation,accordingtoseveral studies,canbecharacterizedasamultidimensionalconstruct, with the global orientation or global mindset (Freeman & Cavusgil,2007;Kyviketal.,2013;Nummelaetal.,2004)as abroaderconcept.Oneof thefirstempiricalstudiesthattried toidentifythephenomenonofBornGlobalfirmswasthestudy of Knight(1997), wherethe construct of the global orienta-tion was derived from the market orientation construct from NarverandSlater(1990)andJaworskiandKohli(1993). Sub-sequently,Moen(2002),inNorwayandFrance,andMoenand Servais(2002),inDenmark,NorwayandFrance,replicatedthe scaleproposedbyKnight(1997)tomeasuretheinternational orientation.

However,anotherfactorassociatedwiththerapid internation-alizationisthetransmissionoftheglobalstrategicvisionofthe mainexecutivesofanorganization(Oviatt&Mcdougall,1995). KnightandCavusgil(2004)exploredtheroleofinnovative cul-tureandorganizationalcapacityintherapidinternationalization ofBGfirmsandtheimpactonperformance.Inthisstudy,the authorsusedtheterminternationalentrepreneurialorientation, reflectingontheinnovativecapacityandproactivityofa com-panytoreachforeignmarkets.Thisnewconceptthusoverlaps theinternationalorientationlimitedtotherapid internationaliza-tionofbusiness(Nummelaetal.,2004).Thus,theinternational entrepreneurialorientationof203USindustrieswasidentified byKnightandCavusgil(2004)asasignificantfeatureof BG firms.

KnightandCavusgil(2005)conducted astudy of 365US companiescharacterizedasBGtodeveloptaxonomyoftypesof BornGlobalfirms.Theempiricalresearchusedthesamescaleof internationalentrepreneurialorientationusedbythemin2004, nowknownasInternationalOrientation,anddemonstratedagain thatmanagerIOisasignificantantecedentofBGperformance; atthesametime,thattheresearchalsovalidatedthescale.

Nummela,Puumalainen,andSaarenketo(2005)conducteda studywith123Finnishinformationtechnologyfirmstoidentify whattheycalledtheorientationfor internationalgrowth.The IOherehasalsobeenseenasapreconditionforaBornGlobal firm,particularlyinintensiveknowledgecompanies(Rialpetal., 2005).Inanotherstudy,Jantunen,Nummela,Puumalainen,and Saarenketo(2008)replicatedthescaleforinternationalgrowth developedby Nummelaetal.(2005),with299 Finnishfirms from severalindustrial sectors. In thisstudy,the authors val-idated the proposed instrument to measure the construct for internationalgrowth,andsupported the ideathat the orienta-tionfor internationalgrowthisasignificant antecedentanda featureofBGfirms.

Kyviketal.(2013),inturn,usedtheglobalorientation con-struct toassessthe global mindsetand, atthe sametime,the managers’internationalorientationofPortugueseand Norwe-gianSMEs.Theauthorsidentifiedastrongrelationshipbetween

thisvariableandthedecisionandspeedforSME international-ization.

Exportcommitment

ForSull(2003),thecommitment,ingeneralterms,canbe definedasanyactiontakeninthepresentthatputsan organiza-tionintothefuture.Theauthorarguesthatthecommitmentis essentialformanagersbecauseitensurestheresourcesnecessary forthesurvivalofacompany.

CavusgilandNevin(1981)definedthecommitmenttoexport as the desire to commit company’s resources to the foreign market aspirations. Thiswould determinebehavior and, con-sequently, superior performance in exports. The relationship betweenthecommitmentoftheexecutiveswiththeexport per-formance has alreadybeen studied (Haar&Ortiz-Buonafina, 2002;Navarro,Acedo,Robson,Ruzo,&Losada,2010;Zou& Stan,1998).ForSingerandCzinkota(1994),thecommitment andpersistenceofthemanagerofanenterprisecanbedefined asthesetofpositiveattitudesregardingtheexports.

Inareviewontheroleofmanagersintheexportingsuccess, Aaby andSlater(1989)found thatall studiesuptothattime indicated theexistence of apositive relationshipbetweenthe commitmentofexecutivesandtheirpropensitytoexport.These authorsalsoarguethatthemanagerialperceptionsshowedtobe themostimportantsuccessfactorofacompanyintheforeign market.

ChadeeandMattsson(1998)investigated103NewZealand manufacturingexportersand52serviceexporters,allsmall-and medium-sized,andfoundthatthecommitmenttoexport activ-ity was the variablethat mostinfluenced the performance of thesefirms.ThesamerelationshipwasalsoinvestigatedbyTach andAxinn(1991),whichfoundasignificantcontributionofthe export commitmenttothe successinthisactivity by USand Canadianmanufacturers.

Leonidou etal.(1998),fromthe systematicanalysisof 46 studiesontheexportperformance,proposedastructureof man-agementcharacteristicsanditsrelationshipwiththepropensity, aggressiveness,performanceanddevelopmentofexports.Moini (1997),inturn,realizedthathighlevelofexportingcompany’s managereducationisdirectlyassociatedtothesuccessofthis activity.

However,thecommitmentofacompanytowardexportsis seenintwoways:financial andpersonalcommitment(Sousa et al., 2008; Weaver,Berkowitz, & Davies,1998). In the lit-erature review by Zou and Stan (1998), the EC was set to be significantlyrelatedtoexportperformancein15of the17 empiricalstudiesanalyzedinthiswork.Sousaetal.(2008)also identifiedthisrelationshipinthereviewofeightyearsofstudies onexportperformance.

Exportcommitmentscales

alsoconsideredattitudinalelementsasexportcommitment.In theirstudy,theauthorsvalidatedanECscaleinvestigatingthe differencesinexportbehavioramongnon-exporters,occasional exportersandregularexporterswith279USSMEfirms.

LagesandMontgomery (2004)used as ECthe amount to financeandhumanresourcesallocatedtosupportexportactivity, as wellas the generalefforts insupportingthe export activi-tiesof thecompany. Theauthors conductedan empirical test with413SMEsPortugueseexportersandvalidatedanECscale. TheexportcommitmentconstructwasmeasuredbyChadeeand Mattsson(1998)usingtheallocationofresourcesintheexport withSMEsNewZealandexporters.

Navarro, Acedo, Robson, Ruzo, and Losada (2010) used amultidimensionalscaletomeasurethe ExportCommitment with150Spanishexporters.ShamsuddohaandAli(2006)used aone-dimensionalECscale toevaluatethe mediatingeffects ofsupportprograms forexportsintheexportperformanceof firms.Theresultsindicatedthattheuseofsupportprogramsisan antecedentofexportperformanceandthecommitmenttoexport impactstheuseofofficialprogramsandexportperformance.

Method

The research method employed was characterized as a descriptivethatusedacross-sectionalsurvey(Churchill,1979; Malhotra,2006).AccordingtoBabbie(2003),surveysareoften conductedtoallowdescriptivestatementsaboutsome popula-tionandtohelpmakeexplanationsaboutthepopulation.

Thetarget populationof the survey consistedof Brazilian SMEexporters.Thesamplewasclassifiedasnon-probabilistic byconvenience(Hair,Anderson,Tatham,&Black,2005)and wasaccessedinBrazil4exportwebsite,maintainedbythe Brazil-ian National Confederation of Industry (CNI). The website provides a catalog of exporters from all states of Brazil and hasjustover11,000exportingcompaniesregistered.However, thefirmsampleshouldmeetthreerequirements:(i)thecompany shouldhaveupto499employees;(ii)shouldnotbeanexport tradingcompany;and(iii)shouldnotbeasubsidiaryorbranch ofaforeigncompany.

ManystudiesontheSMEsrapidinternationalizationdefined thenumberof499employeesasthelimitforthistypeoffirm (Andersson&Wictor,2003;Chetty&Campbell-Hunt,2004; Danik&Kowalik,2013;Knight&Cavusgil,2004,2005;Moen &Servais,2002).SuchcriteriaforSMEsdonotdifferfromthe criteriausedinBrazilfortheSmallandMediumFirmSupport Service(SEBRAE)classification(SEBRAE,2014).

Anotherimportantcriterionfortheresearchsamplewasthat itshouldbecomposedonlybyindependentBrazilianfirms.That meansthatnosubsidiariesofforeigncompaniesshould partic-ipateinordertoavoidthecontaminationoftheorganizational cultureofothercompanies(Bell,McNaughton,&Young,2001). TheExportTradingCompanieswerediscardedfromthe sam-ple bythespecialcharacteristics ofthistypeofdevelopment, whichcouldresultinanunwantedbiasintheresults.The sur-veysampleconsistedof414BrazilianSMEsexporters,which met the criteria mentioned. Afterthe outliers removal proce-dure,thefinalsamplewascomposedby398SMEsorabout3% of the original baseaccessed. Respondentswere accessed by computer-assistedtelephoneinterview(Malhotra,2006).

ChoosingtheOIandECscales

Thescalesusedinthisstudywereobtainedfromthecontent analysisof variousscalesidentifiedinliterature.The interna-tionalscientificjournals’analysisshowedfourscalesofIOand fourof ECthatwerevalidated andreplicatedinlaterstudies. All eight scales were Likert type and were submitted to the evaluation of a panel of experts through in-depth interviews withfiveexecutivesof provenexperienceinexport.They are presentedinTable1.Internationalorientationandexport com-mitmentscalesselected forthisstudy passedbyatranslation andareversetranslation.

Theexecutivessurveyedunderstandthatthesetofvariables proposed by Knight and Cavusgil (2004) to measure inter-national orientation and by Shamsuddoha and Ali (2006) to measure exporter commitment were those that best captured thedimensionsinthecaseofBrazilianSMEsexporters.Itwas arguedthatKnightandCavusgil(2004)scaleincorporatedthe firmvisionandmissionandthiswoulddetermineastrongIO.In

Table1

IOandECscalesevaluated.

Internationalorientationscales Exportcommitmentscales

Authors Features Authors Features

Knight(1997) Globalorientation;07variables;sampleof 290USSMEs;replicatedbyMoen(2002)

andMoenandServais(2002).

Genc¸türkandKotabe(2001) Exportexpertise;07 variables,162USexporters.

KnightandCavusgil(2004) Internationalentrepreneurialorientation;06 variables;203USSMEs;replicatedby

KnightandCavusgil(2005).

MehranandMoini(2001) Exportcommitment;05 variables;279USSMEs.

Nummelaetal.(2005) Internationalgrowthorientation;06 variables;123FinnishSMEs;replicatedby

Jantunenetal.(2008).

LagesandMontgomery(2004) Exportcommitment;04 variables;413Portuguese SMEs.

Pla-BarberandEscribá-Esteve(2006) Globalorientation;05variables;274 SpanishSMEs;inspiredbyRoth,Schweiger, andMorrison(1991)

Table2

Samplecharacterization.

Product Numberofcases Share(%)

Furnitureanddecoration 65 16.33

Machineryandequipments 58 14.57

Food 51 12.81

Wood 39 9.80

Leather,footwearandartifacts 38 9.55

Metallurgyproducts 34 8.54

Rubberandplasticproducts 28 7.04

Textilesandclothes 18 4.52

Ores,jewelryandgemstones 16 4.02 Vehiclesandtransportequipment 12 3.02

Beverage 8 2.01

Electricmaterial 8 2.01

Chemicalproduct 7 1.76

Tobaccoandcigarettes 7 1.76

Pulp,paperandpaperproduct 5 1.26

Pharmaceuticalproduct 2 0.50

Oilandbiofuels 1 0.25

Computeroropticalproduct 1 0.25

Total 398 100

thescaledevelopedbyShamsuddohaandAli(2006),therewas consensusthatitwouldbemorepragmaticandthatitunderstood theoperationallanguageofexporters.Whiletherewasa discus-sionthatanewscalecouldbecreated,when askedtochoose onlyonescale,therespondentsunderstoodthatthosetwoscales wouldbethemostappropriateforIOandEC.

Afterthis process,the scales were submitted again tothe validationofapracticaljury(fiveexecutives)andanacademic jury(fourresearchers),asperMalhotra(2006)recommendation, andapre-testwith30SMEsmanagers.Theprocedureindicated theneedfortheexclusionofsomevariablesproposedbyKnight andCavusgil (2004)considered redundantby the judges.As thesevariableshadbeenexcludedafterpurificationperformed intheoriginalstudy,weproceededtotheexclusionofthesame. Thetwoscaleswerestudiedwithsixvariables,eachmeasured withasix-pointLikertscale(Appendix).

Samplecharacterization

The final sample of 398 Brazilian SMEs surveyed con-centratedonfurniture manufacturers,machinery,food, wood, leather, footwear andmetallurgy products, as can be seenin Table2.TheBrazilianMinistryofIndustryandTradecriteria formanufacturedproductwasusedinthisstudy(MDIC,2014). WhenconsideringthefoundingdateoftheSMEsinthe sam-ple,itwasnotedthat30.4%startedtheiractivitiesfromthe90s and72%ofthesamplehelditsfirstexportinthesamedecade. The year 1990 appearsin the literature as akind of “water-shed”forthe emergenceofBGs(Andersson&Wictor,2003; Moen,2002; Moen &Servais, 2002; Rasmussen & Madsen, 2002;Rialp etal., 2005).Atthe sametime,many studieson acceleratedinternationalizationarguethatuptothreeyearsafter thefirms’sfoundationtoitsfirstinternationalentrancecanbe consideredas evidenceofaBornGlobal(Knight&Cavusgil, 1996,2004;Kuivalainen,Sundqvist,&Servais,2007;Madsen, 2013).

Basedontheyearofinceptionandtheyearofitsfirstexport, itcouldbeinferredthattherewouldbeapotentialgroupofBorn Globalfirmsorrapidinternationalizationof119SMEsfromthe totalof398SMEsofthesample.Thus,thesamplesuggeststhe occurrenceofthephenomenonoftherapidinternationalization inBrazilin30%ofthecases.

Thefrequencyofexportsfor37%ofthefirmsisweeklyand for 21% atleast twice a month, whichrevealsthat firms are moreinvolvedwiththeexportactivity.Theexportdestination wasSouthAmericafor71.9%ofthefirms.Theannualrevenueis locatedmainlybetweenUS$0.5andUS$1.5millionfor27.9% of the firms.Moreover,exportsaccount forup to10%of the totalrevenuein45% ofthecompaniesstudied,while25% or morein39.2%oftheSMEssurveyed.

Thevalidationofinternationalorientationandexport commitmentscales

AccordingtoGarverandMentzer(1999),inthecontextof academicresearch,thevalidityisinahierarchyofprocedures intendedtoensurethatwhatisconcludedfromastudycanbe sharedwithconfidence.Inthisstudy,thesub-dimensionsofthe examined constructvaliditywereas follows:contentvalidity, substantivevalidity,one-dimensionality,reliabilityand conver-gentvalidity.

Afterpreparationofthedatabase,weproceededtothe eval-uationoftheconstructsthroughConfirmatoryFactorAnalysis (CFA).AccordingTabachnickandFidell(2001),theCFAisa techniqueused inadvancedstagesofresearchinordertotest theoriesrelatingtolatentprocesses.AccordingtoBrown(2006), theCFAisatypeofstructuralequationmethodthatspecifically dealswiththemeasurementmodels,focusingontherelationship betweentheobservedvariablesorindicatorsandlatentvariables or factors.Withregardtotheestimationmethod,Schumacker and Lomax (2004) emphasize that the Maximum Likelihood should bepreferredtobeconsistent,non-biased,independent of changes in items of scales andpresenting goodresults in multivariatenormalconditions.

AccordingtoAndersonandGerbing(1982),theevaluationof one-dimensionalityisimportantbecauseitallowsresearchersto assesswhethertheconstructsindividuallyhavegoodfits,before assigningtheirmeaninginthecontextofastructuralanalysis. Thus,the latent variablesmust havemultipleindicators mea-suringonlyoneconstruct,i.e.stronglycorrelatedwithonlyone factor.Table3presentstheanalysisoftheECscaleandTable4, theIOscalestudied.

Whilemanymeasurementmodelshavesomevariableswhose standardized residuals andmodificationindices are relatively high,GarverandMentzer(1999)recommendthat,ingeneral, researchersshouldfocusonachievingarelativelylownumberof itemswhoseindicesarehigh.Inthisstudy,itwasconsideredthat highresiduesthatexceeded2.58 andthemodificationindices above7.88indicatedsubstantialimprovementinthemodel.

Table3

Exportcommitmentscaleconfirmatoryfactoranalysis.

Model 1 Model 2 Model 3

Model χ2 GL χ2/GL GFI AGFI IFI TLI CFI RMSEA

1 47 9 5.291 0.935 0.907 0.935 0.891 0.935 0.104

2 17 5 3.450 0.984 0.953 0.950 0.950 0.975 0.079

3 8 2 4.036 0.990 0.952 0.986 0.956 0.985 0.087

CE

Q1 e1

,49

Q2 e2

,57

Q3 e3

,72

Q4 e4

,68

Q5 e5

,45

Q6 e6

,75

CE

Q1 e1

,47

Q2 e2

,59

Q3 e3

,74

Q4 e4

,65

Q6 e6

,75

CE

Q2 e2

,58

Q3 e3

,74

Q4 e4

,63

Q6 e6

,77

CE,exportcommitment;Q,itemfromthescaleorthevariablenumber;e,error.

Appendix, states that “the company tends to pursue export opportunities” and presented a factor loading less than 0.5. This would indicate that the export commitment is not nec-essarily associated with pursuing only export opportunities, encouragingthe removalof thisindicator andlaterreviewof themodel.

Some studies have observed that the past performance of SMEs has a crucial role in the construction of export commitment, that means the perception of decline in export earningsduetotheturbulenceinthemarket(economiccrisis, exchangeratefluctuationordropininternationalprices)could affecttheimmediateresponsetoopportunitiesabroad,butnot

Table4

Internationalorientationscaleconfirmatoryfactoranalysis.

. . . .

. .

. .

. .

. .

Table5

Reliabilityandextractedvarianceanalysis.

Scale Model Composite

reliability

Extracted variance

Cronbach’s alpha

Exportcommitment 3 0.853 0.594 0.770 Internationalorientation 2 0.892 0.627 0.830

theorganizationalcommitmenttoexport(Chandraetal.,2012; Lages & Montgomery, 2004, 2005; Leonidou, Katsikeas, & Samiee,2002).

InModel2,theanalysisofstandardizedresidualsand mod-ification indices did not show the existence of problematic variables.However,the Q1variable, whichwastheexistence of“anappropriateorganizationalstructuretohandleallexport activities”, showed a reduced load factor. Therefore, in this research,SMEcommitmentintensitywithexportcouldnotbe relatedtotheexistenceofappropriateorganizationalstructures todeal withtheseactivities. Formanyauthors,the resources weredirectedtotheexportactivityandnotthestructurethat bet-tercapturetheEC(Cavusgil&Zou,1994;Johanson&Vahlne, 2003;Leonidou etal., 1998;Mehran &Moini, 2001;Zou & Cavusgil,2002).Thus,thefactthatacompanyhasno organi-zationalstructuredoesnotrepresentitslowcommitment.But, becausetheyareSMEs,outsourcingexport-relatedbureaucratic servicescouldbeanintelligentwaytooptimizetheresources allocated tothis activity. Thus,the Model 3 wastested after removalofthevariablesQ1andQ5,showingacceptablesetand indicatorswhosefactorloadingsarehighinonlyonedimension. The analysisof IOshowed noindicator withstandardized residuebeyondthat recommendedinthe literature,according toModel1(Table4).However,Q8andQ9variablespresented modificationindicesgreaterthan7.88.Thelowfactorloadings of Q8, whichstatedthat “internationalizationof the business istheonlywaytoachieveourgrowthgoals”,suggestthatthe samplecouldlookatopportunitiesintheinternationalmarket withoutlosingthedomesticmarket,thatis,theirgrowthisnot onlyaresultoftheinternationalizationofthebusiness.

Themanagers’internationalorientation,accordingtoseveral studies,canbecharacterizedasamultidimensionalconstruct, with the broader concept: a global mindset (Freeman & Cavusgil,2007;Nummelaetal.,2004).TheIOismoreabout thebeliefthatthefirmmarketisoneofthealternativestogrowth andnottothebeliefthattheinternationalizationofabusiness istheonlyalternativetogrowth.Thegrowthopportunitiesofa companycan be in domesticand foreign markets or in both at the same time, which would not alter its IO. Thus, after removalofQ8variableadjustmentindicesrelatedtoModel2,it mightbeconsideredasacceptable,aswellasthefactorloadings indicatingthatthisisaone-dimensionalconstruct.

After getting adjusted to one-dimensional models, it proceededtocheckthereliabilityofthescalesfromthe calcu-lationof threeindices: compositereliability,averagevariance extractedandCronbach’salpha.AccordingtoHairetal.(2005) andGarverandMentzer(1999),the first twoindicatorsneed to be calculated separately by construct and most statistical softwaredidnotestimatedirectly.Thecompositereliabilityis

theinternalconsistencyofindicators,reportinghowthese con-tributetotheformationofthelatentconstruct(Hairetal.,2005). To achieve reliability, the composed reliability indices and Cronbach’salphashouldbegreater than0.7andtheextracted variancegreaterthan0.5(Hairetal.,2005).Table5summarizes the statistics obtained for each scaleandshowed satisfactory levels,attestingtothereliabilityofbothscalesexamined.

Regardingtotheconvergentvalidity,Bagozzi,Yi,andSingh (1991)considerthatthestatistical significanceof factor load-ingscomparedtotheconstructswouldbeasufficientcondition toconfirm its existence.Moreover,Steenkamp andVan Trijp (1991) state that the factorregression coefficientsshould not onlybesignificant,butalsosubstantial(greaterthan0.5). How-ever, thiscondition shouldbe assessedonlyafter obtaininga properfit ofthemodeltested.Standardizedfactorloadingsin bothtestedscalesweregreaterthan0.5,confirmingits conver-gentvalidity.

ThefeaturesofBrazilianSMEsfastinternationalization

Aimingtounderstandandexploresomeofthesample char-acteristicsstudiedandtheirrelationshiptothescalesproposed for validation,the mean of IO andECwere compared using analysisofvariance(ANOVA)ontheregularityofexportand annualrevenuesobtainedfromexports.

Thefirmsthatperformedexportsonaweeklybasis,which would showgreatexportintensity, showedhigherIOandEC than thosefirmsthat exportedeverythree months.This find-ing helps to validate the use of the EC scale proposed by ShamsuddohaandAli(2006),becauseitrelatestotheintensity ofexportactivitiesofSMEswithorganizationalcommitmentin relationtotheexportactivity(Cavusgil&Zou,1994;Leonidou etal.,1998,2002;Mehran&Moini,2001;Singer&Czinkota, 1994;Zou&Cavusgil,2002).

InordertocategorizeaBornGlobal,thepercentageof rev-enue thatcomesfromthe internationalactivity (Andersson& Wictor,2003;Hagen&Zuchela,2014)isfrequentlyused.The useofanamountexceeding25%ofrevenuesfrominternational activities,toconfirmthepredominanceoftheserevenuesinBG companies, emergesasaconsensus valueinstudiesonrapid internationalization(Chetty&Campbell-Hunt,2004;Knight& Cavusgil,2005;Rasmussen&Madsen,2002;Rialpetal.,2005). The SMEssurveyed thathavemorethan25% ofits revenues fromexportsshowedhigherEC(n=140,mean=4.25)andIO (n=140,mean=4.82)thantherestofthesamplefirms(n=258, mean=3.87 and mean=4.17,respectively). Suchexport rev-enue percentage may indicate,at first, the existence of rapid internationalizationSMEsinthesample.Secondly,thisfinding indicatesthatthescalesusedcapturedthedifferencesin behav-iorofrapidinternationalizationoffirms,orpotentialBG,from theotherSMEsstudied.

Theseresultsprovideevidencefortheideasupportedbymany authors(Chandraetal.,2012;Rocha,Mello,Pacheco,&Farias, 2012) that there is a recursive relationship between exporter commitmentandperformanceandthesizeofthefirm.

Conclusion

Thescaleswhen translatedinto Portugueseandapplied to thecontextof the BrazilianSMEshadadequateadjustments, accordingtotherecommendationsfoundintheliterature. Com-paredtotheresultsobtainedbyKnightandCavusgil(2004)and ShamsuddohaandAli(2006),forscalesIOandECrespectively, therewasatendencytoidentifyitemswithlowerfactorcharges totheoriginalmodels.

With regard to the IO specifically, although the reliabil-itycomposite obtained was superiortothat reportedby their creators (0.80), the items belonging to the Brazilian version presented below factor loadings. It is possible that cyclical andsituationalelementscommontoBrazilianSMEsmayhave contributed,makingtheseitemshaveless weightonthe defi-nitionofIOconstruct.IntheECscale,reliabilityobtainedby ShamsuddohaandAli(2006)isequivalenttothisstudy (Cron-bach’salpha ofthe originalscale,0.79).However,reductions infactorloadingsinsomeitemsresultedintheremovaloftwo variables.

Thefindings ofthisstudy reflect thediversityof theBorn Globalphenomenonindifferentcountrycontextsandtheneed forclearerunderstandingofthevariablesthatinfluencetherapid internationalization,not onlythe export commitmentandthe internationalorientation. Itis possibletosuggestthatthe tra-ditionaldefinitionsofBGarestillstaticandcontext-dependent (Chandraetal.,2012).InBrazil,thereisaclearneedto incor-poratespecificvariablesofthelocalcontext,suchasexchange ratevolatilityandthegovernmentinterventioninexportactivity, forexample.Indoingso,therewouldbeabetterunderstanding oftherapidinternationalizationmechanismofBrazilianSMEs (Dibetal.,2010;Rochaetal.,2012).

However, the most significant implication of this study is perhapsthesimplefactoftheexistenceoftherapid internation-alizationphenomenonorBornGlobalsinBrazil,mainlyfrom the90s.Itisbelievedthattheyear1990isthemostappropriate toidentifythesecompaniesinBraziltoo,duetosomenational contextreasons:(i)theBraziliantradeliberalizationinitiatedin 1990;(ii)thebeginningoftheintegrationprocessamong MER-COSURcountriesin1991;and(iii)thecreationandadherence ofBraziltotheWorldTradeOrganization(WTO)in1995.

Itshouldbenoted thatBorn Globals,accordingtoRennie (1993),areanextremeexampleoftheimportantroleofSMEsto exportgrowthofacountry.InBrazil,morethan18,000 compa-niesexportedin2013.Fromthattotal,75%weremicro-, small-andmedium-sizedfirms.However,fromtheUS$242billionof thecountry’sexportsthatyear,themicro-,small-and medium-sizedfirmsaccountedforonly4%ofthevalue(MDIC,2014).In thissense,thedevelopmentofofficialpoliciestosupport specif-icallytothisnewtypeoffirmswillhaveoutstandingeconomic andsocialimportancetoBrazil.

Therefore, official support programs for exports should accommodatetheneedsofsmallandinnovativebusinessesthat even withouta stronger performanceinthe domesticmarket havesignificantoperationsinforeignmarketssinceits founda-tion (Aspelund &Moen,2012).Thus,thereis aclearcallto Brazilianpolicymakerstoredirectsupportprogramsthatoften datebacktohalfacentury.

Finally,animportantlimitationthatexistsinthestudyofthe SME rapidinternationalization is the ex postfacto bias. The managers’perception,withregardtoIOandEC,changesover time,aswellasthefirm’sinternationalexperience.Thus,aBG firm, but onethat hasworked for many years inthe foreign market,mustpresentanIOandCEassessmentdifferentfrom acompanythat makes its firstentranceinto foreign markets. Themost appropriatewouldbeastudyinalongitudinalway to verify the dynamics of the proposed scales. However, the difficulty in establishing anadequate sample, addedwith the problemofdatacollectionatvarioustimes,wouldcomplicate thiskindofempiricalresearch.

Conflictsofinterest

Theauthorsdeclarenoconflictsofinterest.

Appendix.

Exportcommitmentscale(EC)fromShamsuddohaandAli(2006):.

a_{Q1–Thefirmhasappropriatestructuretodealwithallexportactivities.}

Q2–Firmexecutivestravelfrequentlytoexportmarket.

Q3–Thefirmhasextensivein-houseexportmarketresearchfacilities. Q4–Learningaboutexportproceduresanddocumentationisahighpriority

inthisfirm.

a_{Q5–Thecompanytendstopursueexportopportunities.}

Q6–Thefirmsetsasideadequatefundstodevelopoverseasmarket.

a_{Indicatesitemthatwasdroppedinthescalepurificationprocess.}

Internationalorientationscale(IO)fromKnightandCavusgil(2004):.

Q7–Topmanagementtendstoseetheworldasourfirm’smarketplace.

a_{Q8–Thebusinessinternationalizationistheonlywaytoachieveour}

growthgoals.

Q9–Theprevailingorganizationalculture,atourfirm(management’s collectivevaluesystem),isconducivetoactiveexplorationofnew businessopportunitiesabroad.

Q10–Ourtopmanagementisexperiencedininternationalbusiness. Q11–Managementcontinuouslycommunicatesitsmissiontosucceedin

internationalmarketstofirmemployees.

Q12–Managementdevelopshumanandotherresourcestoachieveourgoal ininternationalmarkets.

a_{Indicatesitemthatwasdroppedinthescalepurificationprocess.}

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