Whereas commonly innovation and internationalization have been studied disjointedly,
many academics have recently questioned the relationship that there might be between
these two strategic choices. The present study aims to determine whether businesses can
concurrently attain internationalization and innovation instead of selecting for only one
of the two strategies in pursuing superior performance. The paper tests the relationships
between firm managerial capabilities, technological and marketing resources, innovation
and internationalization strategies, and firm performance based on the assumptions of the
resource-based view. The hypotheses are tested using the data from a survey on 169 Italian
SMEs. The outcomes reveal that innovation and internationalization are complementary,
and not alternative in the attainment of firm superior performance, both technological and
marketing resources are positively associated with the business internationalization, whereas
only technological resources contribute to the business innovativeness. Additionally,
managerial capabilities are key for deploying the firm overall resource endowment
