Making internationalisation decisions:how heuristics and biases affect the reasoningprocesses of leaders of small and medium-sizedfirms

HB Economic Theory;HF Commerce

Casulli, Lucrezia ; Jones, Marian

University:University of Glasgow

Department:Adam Smith Business School

关键词: International entrepreneurship, cognition, decision making;   

Others  :  http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2661/1/2011CasulliPhd.pdf

来源: University of Glasgow

【 摘 要 】

This thesis presents an exploration of how biases stemming from the use ofheuristic-‐based reasoning processes influence the internationalisation decisionsmade by the leaders of Small and Medium-‐Sized Enterprises (SMEs). Three typesof internationalisation decisions are specifically addressed in this thesis, namelyforeign market selection, entry mode and foreign market exit. The empiricalcontext is that of Scottish SMEs from three main industries, namelyEnvironmental and Recycling, Oil and Gas, and Textiles. Each of the case firmsis involved in value-‐adding activities across national borders. The theoreticalcontext is that of internationalising SMEs. The thesis draws on three mainstrands of the internationalisation literature: the Transaction Cost Approach, theProcess Theory of Internationalisation and the International New Venture (INV)approaches. In investigating the decisional processes involved ininternationalisation, the thesis takes a Bounded Rationality stance and assumesthe use of Heuristics-‐based reasoning (Tversky and Kahneman, 1974) ininternationalisation decisions. The level of analysis is the individual decisionmaker within the internationalising firm. The unit of analysis is theinternationalisation decision, which is explored from a reasoning processperspective.A case study strategy is used. Data collection tools are semi-‐structuredinterviews and repertory grid elicitation. The data is analysed inductivelythrough the construction of causal-‐cognitive maps.Findings show that heuristics are a useful tool to explain the reasoning processesemployed in internationalisation decisions. The contribution that this thesismakes to extant literature on the internationalisation of smaller firms isthreefold. Firstly, the thesis outlines the processes involved in an array ofinternationalisation decisions (country selection, entry mode, exit decisions)underpinning the cross-‐national border behaviour of firms. Secondly, byobserving the processes of decision-‐making through a cognitive lens, the thesiscontributes to the emerging cognitive approach in internationalisation. Thirdly,the thesis contributes to the literature on international entrepreneurialexperience by explaining how experiential and vicarious knowledge areleveraged and used in the process of internationalisation decision-‐making.IIIPropositions are advanced and further research is invited to progress currentunderstanding of the making of internationalisation decisions in SMEs.