Disentangling the Effect of Prior International Experience on the Foreign Market Entry Mode Choice of Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises

冒险进入外国市场的公司可以在股权（如全资子公司）和非股权（如出口）进入模式之间作出选择。先前的研究主要侧重于大型跨国企业，但在先前的国际经验对企业外国市场进入模式选择的影响方面没有得出结论。本研究建议的目的是通过理清以往国际经验对外国市场进入模式选择的影响，提高对中小企业外国市场进入模式选择的认识。首先，在组织层面上，我们调查如何（哪种模式类型的中小企业在以前的国际交往中使用），在哪里（在哪些地方有中小企业收集以前的国际经验），以及何时（如何在时间上接近/遥远的是以前的国际化事件到一个新的国际化事件）中小企业收集以前的国际经验。其次，在个人层面上，我们试图研究公司的主要决策者（如首席执行官）先前的国际经验对中小企业的外国市场进入模式选择的影响。第三，我们关注的是组织经验和个人经验之间的相互作用，以及它们如何共同影响中小企业的海外市场进入模式选择。我们试图测试这些问题的德国中小企业的样本。虽然我们的研究是专门针对中小企业的情况下，我们设想我们的研究结果有研究和大型跨国企业和政策制定者的实际影响。

Firms venturing into foreign markets can choose between equity (e.g. wholly-owned subsidiaries) and non-equity (e.g. exports) based entry modes. Prior research with a primary focus on large multinational enterprises yielded inconclusive findings regarding the impact of prior international experience on firms` foreign market entry mode choice. The aim of the present research proposal is to enhance knowledge of small- and medium-sized enterprises` (SMEs`) foreign market entry mode choice by disentangling the effect of prior international experience on foreign market entry mode choice. First and on an organizational level, we investigate how (which mode types has an SME used in prior international engagements), where (in which locations has an SME collected prior international experiences), and when (how temporally close/distant are prior internationalization events to a new internationalization event) the SME collected prior international experience. Second and on an individual level, we seek to examine the impact of prior international experience of the firm`s major decision maker (e.g. CEO) on SMEs´ foreign market entry mode choice. Third, we focus on the interaction between organizational and individual experience and how it jointly impacts SMEs´ foreign market entry mode choice. We seek to test these questions on a sample of German SMEs. Although our research is specifically tailored to the SME context, we envisage our research findings to have research and practical implications for large multinational enterprises and policy makers.