A dynamic management capabilities view of small to medium-sized enterprise export readiness: a Canadian perspective

Increased trade liberalisation and advancements in technology have established the foundation for global expansion of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). However, data demonstrates that most SMEs continue to focus almost exclusively on their domestic market. In this study, we leverage resource orchestration (RO) and dynamic capabilities (DC) to explore the managerial and firm level resources critical to supporting SME export expansion. This includes conducting multi-staged qualitative research to define these resources (N = 28). This research identifies company age, operational resources, financial capacity, and employee knowledge and skills. In addition, we isolate dynamic managerial capabilities (DMCs) related to cognition (e.g., managerial experiences and decision-making), social capital (e.g., developing strong internal and external networks) and human capital (e.g., ability to maximise the value of people) as critical to export expansion. Lastly, we use our findings to develop a conceptual model and associated instrumentation of SME export readiness to guide future empirical research.