Small firm internationalisation competence: An owner-manager perspective

We examine competence as a phenomenon from the perspective of task accomplishment and what makes performance possible for owner-managers of small internationalising firms and move beyond knowledge as a free floating term to knowledge in action. By doing so, we contribute to the emerging topic of small firm internationalisation competence by focusing on the owner-manager rather than that of the firm. We also contend that competence is not attribute-based but rather relational in nature. By using a relational approach and phenomenography we reveal not only what constitutes small firm internationalisation competence but the variation in the way owner-managers organise their knowledge and skills into sets of distinctive competence. Our findings demonstrate that owner-managed small firm internationalisation competence is not defined primarily as a set of attributes or owner-manager characteristics/traits. Rather internationalisation competence is defined by the way owner-managers understand firm internationalisation