Abstract

The internationalization of small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) has been the focus of numerous studies. However, while the attention has thus far been on SMEs operating in developed countries, firms evolving in a developing context, including Africa, have been largely neglected. To address this, and drawing on a dual resources‐based and network‐based view, this study simultaneously investigates the importance of internal and external resources for firms’ export performance and regularity in the context of North African SMEs. Using a sample of Algerian exporters, the study reveals the superiority of discrete resources for boosting export performance and export regularity. These findings provide directions to Algerian SME managers and policymakers as to important factors driving the internationalization process in the developing Algerian context.

INTRODUCTION

Notwithstanding the widely acknowledged benefits of exporting for both firms’ and nations’ growth (Pattnayak & Thangavelu, 2014; J. Wagner, 2013), African small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) are still reluctant to enter international markets, and when they do, they often struggle to achieve and maintain satisfactory performance. In fact, exporting remains a challenging activity hampered by inhibitors typically caused by SMEs’ limited resources (Brouthers, Nakos, & Dimitratos, 2015; Villar, Alegre, & Pla‐Barber, 2014).