Institutional and resource configurations associated with different SME foreign market entry modes

Abstract This study explores the different configurations of internal and externally sourced resources utilized by SMEs, as well as host and home country institutional influences (hereafter abbreviated to ‘internal and external resources’, and ‘host and home country institutions’, respectively) across different foreign market entry modes in a B2B setting. Specifically, this research illustrates the different relative representations of internal vs external resources and host vs home institutions associated with different entry modes, including non-investment/contractual and early-stage investment modes. The different configurations resulting from our study are tentatively explained in the context of prevailing theoretical perspectives, namely, the resource-based view, institutional theory, and SME internationalization. Our research extends the existing literature on SME internationalization by identifying that different resource-institutional configurations are associated with different foreign market entry modes.