The relationship between international diversification, innovation performance and firm performance: an empirical analysis among hardware companies

Abstract

The fierce competition among hardware companies is increasingly becoming a global competition. With a fast-paced innovative environment, international business is becoming a strategic plan that all hardware management teams have to follow. However, with unique characteristics of high-tech industry, the international business of hardware firm potentially has specific issues, which make this research worth to proceed. This study examines the relationship between international business and performance of hardware companies from 2008 to 2014. To evaluate this potentially significant relationship, different degrees of internationalization are accounted to examine whether each stage may influence dissimilarly to the performance. In order to study a greater scale of this relationship, innovative performance, as a key competitive factor of high-tech companies, is also measured as another indicator to evaluate the internationalization’s effects. A profound analysis is also provided to explain the findings based on unique characteristics of the hardware industry. The study finds out that companies who invest to diversify their markets likely achieve a higher profit during the internationalization process than their competitors.