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117
臺大管理論叢
第
28
卷第
2
期
Internationalization and Performance: An Application of
Quantile Regressions
Summary
Firms that are dedicated to promoting their products, services, and value chains to
international markets are doing so in order to seize continually growing and strong
developing business opportunities. Global success allows firms to have competitive
advantages, such as greater economies of scale, decreased operational risks, more market
access, and etc. However, does internationalization really help increase business
performance? Many studies have found that internationalization has a positive effect on
performance (Grant, 1987; Daniels and Bracker, 1989; Li, Qian, and Qian, 2012; Hsu,
Lien, and Chen, 2013, 2015), while others argue that there is a negative relation between
internationalization and performance (Collins, 1990; Geringer, Tallman, and Olsen, 2000;
LiPuma, 2012). Some in the literature further indicate that these two concepts have a more
complicated non-linear relationship (Hitt, Hoskisson, and Kim, 1997; Contractor, Kundu,
and Hsu, 2003; Qian, Li, Li, and Qian, 2008; Qian, Khoury, Peng, and Qian, 2010; Assaf,
Josiassen, Ratchford, and Barros, 2012; Chen, Jiang, Wang, and Hsu, 2014; Olmos and
Díez-Vial, 2015). In addition, previous studies of internationalization are mainly based on
samples of large firms, yet many small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) also play
important roles in foreign markets (Acs and Audretsch, 1988; Oviatt and Mcdougall,
1994; Acs, Morck, Shaver, and Yeung (1997); Lu and Beamish, 2001; Qian, 2002). Lu and
Beamish (2001) found that the relationship between internationalization and performance
is U-shaped for SMEs in Japan, while Qian (2002) claimed that it is inversely U-shaped
for SMEs of the U.S. So far, there is no common conclusion on this topic. Hence,
empirical research studies are still unable to achieve any consistent conclusion about the
effect of internationalization on enterprises’ performance.
One of the possible reasons for the inconsistent conclusions may be that firms with
different operating scales have different resources, organizational structure, management
systems, and investment targets. In other words, operating scales may limit firms to
Yang Li
, Professor, Institute of Business and Management, National University of Kaohsiung
Ching-Chang Wu
, Assistant Professor, Department of International Business, Chinese Culture
University
Yi-Chun Liu
, Ph.D. Student, Department of International Business, National Taiwan University
Hua-Shun Liu
, Investment Advisor, Wealth Management Department, Standard Chartered Bank