The conclusions in relation to previous studies

In this study the first aim was to examine what intangible resources, specifically from the viewpoint of export expansion capabilities, were particularly relevant to how firms expanded internationally. In this objective the study extended previous research on the topic through empirical testing (Kogut and Zander 1992; Mitchell, Smith, Seawright and Morse 2000; Hitt et al. 2006; Sapienza, Autio, George and Zahra 2006). The second aim was to analyze how the above-mentioned intangible resources influenced the speed and success of export expansion. Relating to this, it demonstrated that export expansion capabilities had a strong impact not only on the early market entry, but also on the subsequent export expansion as well.

This study further attempted to extend existing theory in three ways. First of all, the phenomenon of organizational capabilities and their impact on export expan-sion was investigated further in order to analyze the multi-dimenexpan-sionality of mar-ket knowledge competence and its influence on export expansion. This phenome-non already existed in literature with due stated importance (Toften and Olsen 2003). Second, the relationship between export expansion capabilities and their consequences on export expansion was straightforwardly analyzed. Third, even though there seems to be agreement that a relationship between organizational capabilities and international expansion exists (Hart and Tzokas 1999; Souchon and Diamantopoulos 1999), the empirical findings concerning the relationship are scarce. This was tested empirically.

Sapienza et al. (2006) call for testing their conceptual framework for the influence of internationalization on the survival and growth of firms. By building on the emerging literature on the dynamic capabilities view of the firm (Helfat and Pet-eraf 2003), their framework highlights the importance of capability building as a major driver of international market entry and subsequent survival. They have argued in their framework that dynamic capabilities do not inevitably confer sus-tained performance. However, they claim that during the early stages of interna-tionalization, dynamic capabilities simultaneously decrease the probability of survival while increasing the probability of growth. This study empirically tests this assumption and provides insights into the influence of export expansion ca-pabilities. In line with Sapienza et al. (2006), the study empirically tested interna-tional expansion in two dimensions: the speed and success. Speed can be inter-preted here as the international entry and early survival in a new market, whereas success relates to subsequent growth in the foreign market. As mentioned before, alliance management, new product development and marketing planning and im-plementation capabilities significantly influenced the early stages of international expansion. However, for subsequent growth in the market, the alliance learning capability was significantly important. This supported Sapienza et al. (2006) and concluded that not necessarily all kinds of capabilities confer sustained perform-ance at all times. However, some might be more significant than others.

Morgan et al. (2003) acknowledge that present literature on the knowledge-based view has focused too much on individual technical and scientific components of the knowledge bases of firms in dynamic industries. Furthermore, Morgan et al.

(2003) emphasize that present literature largely ignores how information and ex-periential knowledge of firms enables them to architect marketing capabilities specifically in the important context of exporting. This study addresses this gap and the empirical findings support their results. Additionally, the results extend the findings further, as the marketing planning and implementation capability appeared as significant for the speed of export expansion only. This capability was statistically positive for the success of export expansion, but in a negative direction. Thus, the marketing planning and implementation capability could not be validated for subsequent export expansion in the context of this study.

Hitt et al. (2006) mention international market entry is based on firm-specific assets, yet few studies specify the most critical intangible resources for successful entry into markets. They examine only the human and relational capital for inter-nationalization. The results of this study explicitly relate the firm-specific assets of export expansion capabilities and examine their effects on the speed and sur-vival of international expansion.

Tuppura, Saarenketo, Puumalainen, Jantunen and Kaleviet (2008), in analyzing the effects of the nature of knowledge assets in a firm, market entry timing orien-tation, international growth orientation and its internationalization strategy, find that accumulated expertise is positively related to first-mover orientation and in-ternational growth orientation. Their study employs multi-industry data and ex-tends prior research which states that a firm’s resources and organizational attrib-utes can be linked to an early market entry. However, their study falls short of validating the relationship between resource versatility and the international ori-entation of a firm. Their findings warrant more research, as they refer to Sapienza et al. (2006) who argue instead that resource versatility enhances firm growth.

The present study in this context first validates the findings of Tuppura et al.

(2008) on one hand, and also supports Sapienza et al. (2006) who state that a va-riety of firm-specific intangible resources from a specific dynamic industry con-fers sustained growth.

Furthermore, in the results, insights into extending the theory from the viewpoint of market orientation studies are also profound. This view emphasizes export market information use, organizational knowledge and firm performance (Toften and Olsen 2003; Diamantopoulos and Souchon 1996). The market orientation perspective lacks an explicit emphasis on how export market information is util-ized, interpreted and disseminated within a firm. Thus, there is a need to explain in the context of market orientation studies why and how organizational knowl-edge may improve a firm’s understanding of how to utilize market- specific knowledge in order to sustain performance. Acknowledging this shortcoming in this theory, Hult, Ketchen and Slater (2005; 2007) suggest combining the argu-ments from the resource- and knowledge-based views with market orientation studies. With reference to this, the study emphasizes the intangible organizational resources of international marketing-related capabilities and presents market knowledge competence as a distinct competence which enables a firm to under-stand how to utilize market knowledge for specific purposes.

Toften and Olsen (2003) in their conceptual framework suggest that some aspects of information use may be more performance-enhancing in an ultimate and direct manner, as Diamantopoulos and Souchon (1999) mention, while others may have more to do with knowledge generation and can have a long term impact on per-formance through the mediating effect of learning processes. However, although the dimensions of information use are not considered here, the results of this study are consistent with Diamantopoulos and Souchon (1999). In the present study the alliance learning capability were found to influence long term growth in the firm, provided the learning mechanisms are in place, whereas other capabili-ties directly influenced the speed and success of export expansion.

Relating to the speed, in terms of resource commitment to foreign markets this study supports Petersen and Pedersen (1999) who state that speed may differ due to the stability or instability of foreign markets. They focused on industry-related stability and instability factors. However, the present study emphasizes the inter-nal factors and their role in resource commitment. It concludes that export expan-sion is driven by managing the internal knowledge base and externally available market knowledge. However, differences in speed may occur, due to the fact that firms vary in the duration of time it takes to transfer and create knowledge spe-cific to export expansion. Thus, the time duration for market knowledge compe-tence development may eventually affect the speed of export expansion (Blom-stermo and Sharma 2003), meaning how timely firms perform the targeted activi-ties as planned.

With reference to the success of international expansion, in the context of the framework of the study, the results reveal that market knowledge competence can lead a firm to a better understanding of how to utilize market knowledge to ex-ploit opportunities by developing specific capabilities (Clercq et al. 2005). The integration of heterogeneous knowledge acquired from different sources reduces the uncertainty about the inherent capabilities of the firms. Firms perceive inter-national activity as an opportunity and are more likely to continue export opera-tions in subsequent foreign markets. Increased knowledge can also be related to seizing the opportunity, specifically the strategic window – which is opened for a short time and due to competitive or other reasons is soon closed as well. In this scenario, existing market knowledge competence enables a firm to combine a variety of resources to capture the opportunity and to develop new competence regarding the use of a new combination of resources.