ACQUIRING INTERNATIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE: INTERNATIONALIZATION OF SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES (SMEs)

Purpose - This paper intends to understand the importance of acquiring international knowledge and experience and its relationship in the internationalization of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the Malaysian context. Within this scope, this study sets out to further the discussion by comparing the global orientation of SMEs in Malaysia with their different levels of firm size. In a nutshell, the study further understands the moderating effect of firm size between the relationship of international knowledge and experience, and internationalization of SMEs. Design/Methodology/Approach - The study is based on literature review in the areas of SMEs internationalization, international knowledgeand experience, and the firm size. The data was collected using a survey instrument among 300 internationalized enterprises located in the northern region of Malaysia. Findings - The results suggest that those firms that acquire international knowledge and experience have no significant relationship with firm internationalization. However, when firm size is used as a moderating factor,acquiring international knowledge and experience shows some importance for internationalization of firms. Interestingly, international knowledge and experience are important for relatively smaller firms. In other words, firm size is significant when relatively smaller SMEs acquire international knowledgeand experience. It poses some implications for managers and policy makers. Originality/Value – This study explores the use of the index of internationalization to measure the internationalization of SMEs in Malaysia.