INTERNATIONAL DIVERSIFICATION STRATEGIES AND THEIR ORGANIZATIONAL AND EXOGENOUS ANTECEDENTS

International operations, with its multiplicity of objectives, can be seen as a diversification strategy, sometimes even as a strategic option taken as an effective alternative to product diversification. Focusing on a sample of SMEs of Portuguese manufacturing industries, this study analyzes the international diversification strategies and their organizational and exogenous antecedents. Specifically, entrepreneurial orientation and dynamic capabilities of the firm are two factors of organizational nature, while the environmental uncertainty arising from the diversity of the different markets is studied as an exogenous antecedent. Data collected in 390 companies through an online questionnaire, its processing and analysis through the use of a structural equations model suggest the existence of different types of influence of the antecedents, according to companies’ options in various dimensions of the international diversification strategies. These results provide guidelines for managers and generate directions for future research