TY - JOUR

T1 - The negative influence of the entrepreneur’s level of higher education on the attractiveness of European SMEs as alliance partners in Brazil

T2 - the role of practical experience and international entrepreneurial orientation

AU - De Mattos, Claudio

AU - Salciuviene, Laura

N1 - This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in The International Journal of Human Resource Management on 25/04/2017, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/09585192.2017.1316758

PY - 2019/7/1

Y1 - 2019/7/1

N2 - Notwithstanding the contemporary relevance of alliance strategies for SME internationalization, especially in the case of uncertain business environments, few studies have investigated human resource issues in the context of SMEs prior to alliance formation. Even more scarce are studies looking at the impact of a manager/entrepreneur’s characteristics on pre-alliance formation, despite recognition of the expected crucial role of the entrepreneur in this context and of the strong connection between an entrepreneur and their SME. Drawing on international entrepreneurship theory and empirical observations from an exploratory study, we propose a post-hoc conceptual model. The exploratory empirical part of our study employs a sample of entrepreneurs from biotechnology SMEs in the United Kingdom and Germany intending to ally in a large emerging market (i.e., Brazil). Our empirical observations suggest an anomalous (at first glance) negative association between the entrepreneur’s level of higher education (a construct at individual level) and the attractiveness of the SME as a partner-firm vis-à-vis alliance formation (a construct at firm level). Our post-hoc model emphasises the role of practical experience and the corresponding levels of international entrepreneurial orientation as theorised variables mediating the observed empirical relationship. We develop theoretical propositions, and suggest practical implications and future research directions.

AB - Notwithstanding the contemporary relevance of alliance strategies for SME internationalization, especially in the case of uncertain business environments, few studies have investigated human resource issues in the context of SMEs prior to alliance formation. Even more scarce are studies looking at the impact of a manager/entrepreneur’s characteristics on pre-alliance formation, despite recognition of the expected crucial role of the entrepreneur in this context and of the strong connection between an entrepreneur and their SME. Drawing on international entrepreneurship theory and empirical observations from an exploratory study, we propose a post-hoc conceptual model. The exploratory empirical part of our study employs a sample of entrepreneurs from biotechnology SMEs in the United Kingdom and Germany intending to ally in a large emerging market (i.e., Brazil). Our empirical observations suggest an anomalous (at first glance) negative association between the entrepreneur’s level of higher education (a construct at individual level) and the attractiveness of the SME as a partner-firm vis-à-vis alliance formation (a construct at firm level). Our post-hoc model emphasises the role of practical experience and the corresponding levels of international entrepreneurial orientation as theorised variables mediating the observed empirical relationship. We develop theoretical propositions, and suggest practical implications and future research directions.

KW - International entrepreneur

KW - level of higher education

KW - proactiveness

KW - innovativeness

KW - partner attractiveness

KW - cross-border alliances

KW - BRICS countries

KW - Brazil

U2 - 10.1080/09585192.2017.1316758

DO - 10.1080/09585192.2017.1316758

M3 - Journal article

VL - 30

SP - 1997

EP - 2025

JO - The International Journal of Human Resource Management

JF - The International Journal of Human Resource Management

SN - 0958-5192

IS - 13

ER -