HCBE Theses and Dissertations
Campus Access Only
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Date of Award
2013
Document Type
Dissertation - NSU Access Only
Degree Name
Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)
Department
H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship
Advisor
Ramdas Chandra
Committee Member
Ruth Clarke
Committee Member
Regina A. Greenwood
Abstract
This study uses the absorptive capacity perspective and adds the firm's commitment to enhance the internationalization process of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It is proposed that each of the dimensions of absorptive capacity should be considered a separate capability that exists prior to internationalization and that enhances and reinforces the firm's ability to take advantage of its resources to advance international expansion and that internationalization has an effect on firm performance. Based on the absorptive capacity perspective, it is further proposed that an SME's organizational learning, which is gained from international expansion, will influence the relationship between internationalization and the firm's performance. The central theme of the proposed model is, therefore, that understanding the relationships among an SME's absorptive capacity, its abilities, and its commitments to internationalization can improve understanding of the relationship between internationalization and performance. The conceptual framework presented in this study indicates that the process of absorptive capacity which flows across SMEs is complex and it involves multiple levels of analysis. I argued that the moderating effect of absorptive capacity needs to be explicitly transferred to SMEs if it is to have a sustained effect on firm performance through internationalization. Adapting absorptive capacity perspective, my model derives key determinants that influence SMEs' performance, through internationalization, and examines how absorptive capacity leads to the creation of internationalization of SMEs. The perspective advanced here describes how all four facets of absorptive capacity -acquiring, assimilating, transforming, and exploiting -are geared toward internationalization of SMEs and produced competitive advantage for SMEs.
NSUWorks Citation
Ahmed Eltamimi Mohamed. 2013. ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY, COMMITMENT, AND INTERNATIONALIZATION: IMPLICATIONS FOR SMEs' PERFORMANCE IN SAUDI ARABIA, EGYPT AND THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES. Doctoral dissertation. Nova Southeastern University. Retrieved from NSUWorks, H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship. (77)
https://nsuworks.nova.edu/hsbe_etd/77.