The internationalization and performance of a firm: Moderating effect of a firm's behavior

Abstract

Empirical studies show mixed results regarding the relationship between a firm's internationalization and performance. One reason is that these studies used various economic market firms as their research sample. Thus, this study on a firm's internationalization is based on newly industrialized economies to shed additional light on this relationship. According to the firm behavioral theory, the moderating impact of a firm's internal organizational slack and attainment discrepancy are critical for enhancing a firm's performance in the internationalization process. We tested these hypotheses using longitudinal data (2000-2005) from 179 high-technology listed companies in Taiwan. We extended the behavioral theory of the firm to explain the moderating effect on the internationalization-performance model. We found that firms tend to exhibit positive performance in internationalization when they have a higher level of organizational slack and attainment discrepancy.Internationalization Performance Organizational slack Attainment discrepancy