Antecedents of strategic ambidexterity in the context of internationalisation: a panel study of Taiwan Small and median-sized enterprises

ABSTRACT

This study seeks to investigate the antecedents of Small and median-sized enterprises’ (SMEs’) ambidexterity strategy, and also to explore the association between ambidexterity strategy and SMEs’ performance with internationalisation as a moderator. Based on a longitudinal panel data set of 225 Taiwan SMEs, we testify the proposed hypotheses with STATA 10.0 by a series of panel data analysis. The empirical results show that both learning capability and top management team heterogeneity positively relate with SMEs’ ambidexterity strategy, while SMEs’ network capability cannot predict ambidexterity strategy. We also find that there is an ‘S’ shape relationship between ambidexterity strategy and SMEs’ performance, and this relationship is negatively moderated by the degree of internationalisation. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Antecedents
• ambidexterity
• internationalisation
• SMEs
• firm performance
• firm capabilities

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Professor Andreas Eisingerich for reading and comments on an early version of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Dr Huei-Ting Tsai is an associate professor of Business Administration at National Cheng-Kung University. She holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge, Judge Business School. Her research focuses on international business and strategic marketing. Her work has been accepted for publication at the Journal of International Marketing, Journal of Business Research, International Business Review, California Management Review, among others.

Dr Shengce Ren is a professor of Business Administration at Tongji University, Shanghai International College of Intellectual Property. He holds a PhD from the Shanghai Jiaotong University, Antai School of Economics and Management. His research focuses on international business and strategic management. His work has been accepted for publication at the Journal of Business Research, International Business Review, Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, Business Strategy and the Environment, among others.

Additional information

Funding

The authors also thank for the funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project No. 71572105).