Global Mindsets and Export Channel Choice

Event abstract

While we know that managers make important international strategy decisions, like export channel choice, we know little about how managerial mindsets influence these decisions. Managerial mindsets are the mental models managers rely on for processing and evaluating information. In this paper we develop and test the notion that managerial global mindsets have a significant impact on the export channels that SMEs use and that this influence is sensitive to the institutional context (level of corruption) in the target market. Based on a sample of Chinese SMEs, we find support for these ideas yet our results raise issues that future research might want to explore. In this way we contribute to a better understanding of how managerial mindsets can influence the choices that are made and the boundary conditions that exist when SMEs expand abroad.

Speaker biography

Keith D. Brouthers is Professor of Business Strategy at King’s College London, a Fellow of the Academy of International Business, and Visiting Professor at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. Professor Brouthers specializes in international strategic management. His current research interests include entry and establishment mode choice, export channel selection, and competitor identification. Professor Brouthers’ research has been published in leading academic journals including Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Management, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Management Studies, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, and Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice.