Discovering Knowledge and Cognitive Based Drivers for SMEs Internationalization

Internationalisation begins with companies’ decision to enter global markets to develop knowledge and experience as key competitive factors in the global economy, which has been the subject of much empirical research. Decision-making, knowledge management, and effective internationalisation have become key strategic tools for all companies, especially for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This study wants to provide a framework for SMEs internationalisation based on the real options theory, (ROT) as a knowledge driver method. For this purpose, the effective factors for internationalisation were identified by reviewing the literature on the subject and the internal and external backgrounds of the subject. Then, main and sub-factors were prioritised by the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method. The statistical population consisted of senior managers, business managers of SMEs in Isfahan, Iran, who were eligible to enter this study. Twenty-six experts participated in this study by judgmental non-random sampling method. A fuzzy AHP questionnaire was prepared in the form of 19 sub-factors and 7 main factors. The components of each factor in each group were also ranked by experts, and their weights were obtained. Next, according to the ROT strategies which have 5 options, an alignment matrix was used to align the factors affecting the decision with the strategies. After answering the research question, the option that had a higher mode was considered AS; then, this score was multiplied by the weight obtained in the previous step and the TAS was obtained. Finally, strategies were classified as appropriate, need further investigation, and inappropriate.