An exploratory study of the impact of Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) on Japanese SME internationalisation behaviour

Japanese SMEs accounts for 99% of the national business population and generate more than 60% of employment in the private sector. Despite the backbone of the economy, only 10% of them are exporters, which raises the need for investigating determinants of their internationalisation behaviour. Japanese market and internal demand is sufficient to support their business sustainability which did not inspire the owner-managers’ decision towards internationalisation. This phenomenon indicates that the potential we should reconsider the positive relationships and impact of ‘traditional’ EO on SMEs internationalisation, such as ‘risk-taking’ attitudes. In other words, the EO dimensional framework to apply to the Japanese SME cases is missing. This study aims to investigate hidden elements that drive Japanese SMEs into the overseas activities, focusing on the manufacturing parts based sector. Our findings showed differentiated impacts of EO on SMEs internationalisation. The most distinctive EO element embedded in Japanese SMEs could be ‘risk’ related notions. Japanese SMEs perceive it not as ‘risk’, but ‘opportunities’ positively to capture new frontiers with new customers