The effect of environmental turbulence and leader characteristics on international performance: Are knowledge-based firms different?

Olli Kuivalainen*, Sanna Sundqvist, Kaisu Puumalainen, John W. Cadogan

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to study the effect of environmental turbulence and leader characteristics on international performance. It is suggested that these phenomena explain the differences between knowledge-intensive companies and traditional industrial enterprises in the internationalisation process. The empirical part of the study is based on a large cross-industrial survey of Finnish small and medium-sized enterprises. Our results indicate that knowledge-intensive firms have experienced more intensive international growth than other firms. They are also operating in an environment in which technological turbulence is significantly higher, and their leaders put more emphasis on internationalization. Generally, environmental turbulence is a better indicator of international performance in knowledge-intensive firms than in others.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)35-50
Number of pages16
JournalCanadian Journal of Administrative Sciences
Volume21
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2004

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