Effect of variation on knowledge accumulation in the internationalization process

This article examines the effect of variation - in the geographical operations - of international business operations on experiential knowledge development in the internationalization of the firm. Based on learning theory, this article develops five hypotheses on the effects of variation on three interrelated components of international experiential knowledge: internationalization knowledge, business knowledge and institutional knowledge. The LISREL analysis indicates that variation has a positive effect on the accumulation of experiential knowledge in internationalizing firms. In particular, it demonstrates that internationalization knowledge is a key variable which mediates the effect of variation on the other two knowledge variables