Influence of CEO and Firm Characteristics on SME Internationalization: Evidence From California

Drawing on upper echelons and internalization theories, this study investigates the association of CEO’s demographic characteristics firm-specific advantages (FSAs) with internationalization small medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). To address gaps identified in literature, it was hypothesized that founder’s characteristics, including educational level, previous start-up industry experience, immigrant status, various international experiences, foreign language ability, will be positively associated SMEs’ internationalization. Additionally, age size measured by amount capital, number employees, annual sales would also have a positive These factors were analyzed using logistic regression, based two separate datasets. The first dataset consisted archival data from 2,240 California firms collected U.S. Census Bureau, while second authors through an online survey 329 SMEs. found work abroad firm employees findings point to importance people’s development, both government initiatives, supporting boosting