Effect of entrepreneurial orientation on the international performance of small and medium-sized enterprises in emerging economies: the moderating role of resilience

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can thrive and develop beyond their borders. In the uncertain and turbulent context of emerging countries, the scarcity of resources hinders SMEs from adopting riskier strategies such as internationalization. Entrepreneurial orientation and resilience might be the keys to their success in such an endeavour. However, studies exploring these two qualities simultaneously are limited. Hence, based on the SME data collected from the emerging economy of Bolivia, our study examined how entrepreneurial orientation positively affects the international performance of SMEs and how resilience plays a moderating role in this relationship. Results show that entrepreneurial orientation can thus facilitate SMEs' internationalization in turbulent emerging economies.