Abstract/Summary

Drawing on upper echelons and internalization theories, this study investigates the association of CEO’s demographic characteristics and firm-specific advantages (FSAs) with the internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). To address the gaps identified in the literature, it was hypothesized that the founder’s characteristics, including educational level, previous start-up and industry experience, immigrant status, various international experiences, and foreign language ability, will be positively associated with SMEs’ internationalization. Additionally, the SMEs’ age and size measured by the amount of start-up capital, number of employees, and annual sales would also have a positive association with SMEs’ internationalization. These factors were analyzed using logistic regression, based on two separate datasets. The first dataset consisted of archival data from 2,240 California firms collected by the U.S. Census Bureau, while the second dataset was collected by the authors through an online survey of 329 SMEs. The study found that the CEO’s educational level, immigrant status, and previous work abroad experience, were positively associated with firm internationalization. SMEs’ size based on annual sales and number of employees were firm factors associated with internationalization. The findings point to the importance of people’s development, by both firms and government initiatives, in supporting and boosting SMEs’ internationalization.