short presentation of a paper in Knowledge Management and SME International Business

2. 1-1.Research context
• Knowledge is an essential requirement for the internationalization of
companies.
• It is crucial for SMEs to use different knowledge acquisition techniques, they,
especially in developing countries, are unable to allocate substantial resources
to international knowledge development
• The main capital of TBFs, to succeed in the international arena is their
intellectual capital
• Internationalization of manufacturing companies in a knowledge-intensive
industry like Healthcare is a necessity for their continuous growth.

3. 1-2.Research purpose and question
• The main purpose research is to investigate the knowledge configuration (knowledge types
and learning modes) of exporting technology-based health companies in Iran.
• The contribution will be: exploring knowledge/IC configuration of companies in an
emerging country context with focus on a technology-based sector with considerable
domestic knowledge assets but resource constraints and limited international cooperation
• The research questions are:
• (1) how knowledge of internationalization is configured in Iranian technology-based health
companies?
(2) which indicators of human capital, structural capital and relational capital are required to
measure and improve knowledge assets for internationalization?

4. 1-3.Paper structure
• research literature regarding knowledge in internationalization is reviewed in section
2.
• Iranian medical equipment context and selected exporting companies are introduced
in section 3.
• Results of interviews were summarized and structured, demonstrating how
knowledge of internationalization is configured and could be measured in section 4.
• Finally, the results are discussed and interpreted in section 5.

5. 2.Knowledge in internationalization of SMEs
• Internationalization can be defined as the process of increasing a company’s
involvement in international operations (Welch and Luostarinen, 1988)
• In all schools of thought in international business, including process
models, network approach and industrial organization, knowledge and
learning are crucial aspects for explaining internationalization

6. 2-1. SME internationalization and existing barriers
• Internationalization is not anymore limited to large companies, but SMEs are
growing actors.
Given the central role of knowledge and learning in knowledgeintensive
firms several studies investigate internationalization of SMEs and born-
global firms (Yli-Renko et al., 2002; Mejri et al., 2018).

7. 2-2. Knowledge/IC in internationalization
• Saarenketo et al. (2004) showed that the adoption of a knowledge-based
approach significantly contributed to the explanation of how Finnish SMEs
had been internationalized
in the ICT industry
• Casillas et al. (2009) raised the question of how new knowledge and
existing knowledge of the internationalizing companies were integrated

8. 2-2-1. Knowledge types in internationalization.
• Fletcher and Harris (2012) divide the knowledge types required by companies to enter the
global arena into three categories:
• (1) technological knowledge: type of knowledge employed to design and develop
a new product or upgrading existing products
• (2) market knowledge: can include understanding the market size and qualitative features such as
existing infrastructures, legal processes of establishment and company activities, key
players and their market shares, workforce conditions, access to raw materials and financial
matters
• (3) internationalization knowledge: is responsible for answering the questions regarding how the
market entry strategies and the methods of partnering with native actors are selected and
how the company’s international business is organized in accordance with the laws
and culture of target countries

9. 2-2-5. Knowledge acquisition for
internationalizing SMEs
• According to Huber (1991), five modes of knowledge acquisition exists:
• (1) using the experiences gained from direct presence in foreign markets and
interacting directly with external partners (direct experience),
• (2) communicating, collaborating and networking with different partners who have external
interactions (vicarious knowledge),
• (3) hiring internationally experienced people (grafted knowledge),
• (4) searching for information on potential markets, existing partners, new opportunities,
target countries (external knowledge-seeking) and
• (5) having founders with international
experience (congenital learning)

10. 2-2-6. Intellectual capital in internationalizing SMEs
• How a knowledge asset measurement perspective can promote organizational learning in the global arena
• IC including human capital, structural capital and relational capital
• Human capital includes the skills, experiences, attitudes and abilities of employees at an
organization
• Structural capital refers to organizational assets that do not rely on individuals.
• Relational capital exists within an organization among individuals and groups in the form of social capital, and especially
outside the organization in the form of customer–supplier relationships as well as memberships in consortia and work
networks
• The impact of intellectual capital on the internationalization of SMEs in Lithuania was
addressed (Korsakiene et al., 2017)
• The impact of different components of IC on the evolution of internationalization has been investigated in Russian
companies by Jardon and Molodchik (2017)

11. 2.3 Research gap in knowledge/IC configuration
in SMEs from developing countries
• Few studies have been conducted in internationalization knowledge configuration in developing countries
• Musteen et al. (2013) international networks and contacts provide foreign market knowledge, which can be
deployed to enhance internationalization performance
• Mejri et al. (2018) explored knowledge types that are less common among Tunisian exporting ICT
companies, in view of the limited available resources. They argued that companies do not use expensive
acquisition modes (such as grafting), but rely more on technical and market knowledge gained through direct
experience or vicarious learning with the help of government consultants
• we could not find any research addressing a measurement method to enhance knowledge assets required for
international success. This gap becomes more important for developing countries that are less embedded in
international relations and more reliant on domestic capabilities like Iran

12. For following the full paper refer to:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content
/doi/10.1108/JIC-02-2020-0048/full/html