A model to determine the effect of international business competences

Abstract

This work aims to analyse the effect of the holistic view of business, continuous learning and the information technology infrastructure in the creation of international business competences. We also analyse whether the creation of this type of competences significantly affects firm performance. The methodology for hypotheses testing is structural equation modeling. This study verifies the mediator role of international business competences in a survey of 257 companies from the biotechnology and telecommunications industries. These findings suggest that managers should emphasise the creation of a holistic business view, promote continuous learning and improve the information technology infrastructure in order to develop international business competences, because these competences have a positive and significant impact on firm performance. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.