Publication Type

PhD Dissertation

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

3-2026

Abstract

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs ) are perennially challenged by the liability of smallness and are traditionally characterized by acute resource scarcity and localized market dependencies. This is especially the case in small open economies, where SMEs face a pervasive scale-up/scale-out paradox. While traditional theory suggests firms must first scale up (accumulate resources and efficiency) before scaling out (entering foreign markets), digitalization now enables SMEs to scale out globally as a strategic mechanism to scale up their operational capacities and competitiveness.  Traditional International Business (IB) literature often frames this through a binary lens, either gradual, institutional-led internationalization (Johanson & Vahlne, 1990) or a rapid, digitally-driven expansion (Knight & Cavusgil, 2004). This dichotomy leaves a critical theoretical gap concerning how resource-constrained SMEs can synchronise both approaches to resolve the tension between efficiency-seeking stability and rapid market-seeking expansion at the nexus of internationalization and digitalization.

Drawing on Institutional Theory and Resource Orchestration Theory, this dissertation proposes a Network Ambidexterity framework as a resolution to this paradox. Network Ambidexterity refers to the strategic capability to harmonize formal institutional legitimacy with informal virtual agility. SMEs achieve international scaling up and out not through simple resource ownership, but through context-dependent, network-enabled resource orchestration (NERO). Within this framework, the interplay between institutional and virtual networks, as well as between efficiency-seeking and market-seeking orientations, reflects strategic priorities rather than mutually exclusive choices. Crucially, this study conceptualizes market-seeking as a capacity-boosting orientation, whereby geographic expansion serves to enlarge production capacities at home and to leverage network effects as the primary infrastructure for scaling.

Adopting a sequential mixed-methods design, Study 1 utilizes semi-structured interviews (N=13) to distil four distinct scaling strategies: Institutional Optimizer, Strategic Explorer, Platform Optimizer, and Agile Global Scaler. These configurations are empirically tested using fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) on a sample of 218 Singapore-based SMEs. The findings demonstrate robust equifinality and identify multiple distinct pathways to superior performance. The results show that success in scaling up and scaling out is not simply a product of resource accumulation but rather the result of the simultaneous orchestration of formal institutional levers and informal virtual networks.

The empirical results further reveal a significant logic inversion: successful SMEs often scale up domestic capacities as a prerequisite for international scaling, with Network Ambidexterity acting as the primary growth multiplier. By demonstrating how firms straddle institutional and digital spheres to bypass traditional gatekeepers, this dissertation contributes to the IB literature by offering a configurational framework that reconciles the scale-up/scale-out paradox. Practically, the study offers a SME Playbook (Annex E – SME Playbook) that translates these configurational pathways into strategic archetypes, shifting the focus from transactional resource accumulation to the strategic alignment of network diversity and capacity-boosting orientations. This provides an evidence-based framework for policymakers to design nuanced, context-specific support interventions in the digital economy.

Keywords

SME Internationalization, Digitalization, Resource Orchestration, Network Ambidexterity, Network-Enabled Resource Orchestration, fsQCA, Equifinality, Causal Complexity

Degree Awarded

Doctor of Business Admin

Discipline

Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations | Strategic Management Policy

Supervisor(s)

YIU, Wing Yee

First Page

1

Last Page

237

Publisher

Singapore Management University

City or Country

Singapore

Copyright Owner and License

Author

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