Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from emerging economies face significant challenges that complicate their internationalization. To thrive in a dynamic global environment, SMEs must develop organizational agility. Drawing on the knowledge-based view and the dynamic capabilities framework, this study both investigates the role of learning orientation in generating foreign market knowledge and its influence on digitalization capabilities (sensing), market-capitalizing agility (seizing), and operational-adjustment agility (reconfiguring), and explores how organizational agility enhances international performance. Data were collected from 209 international SMEs in Nigeria. The findings highlight the positive effects of learning orientation, foreign market knowledge, and market-capitalizing agility on international performance. While digitalization capabilities strengthen both market-capitalizing and operational-adjustment agility, foreign market knowledge does not directly foster digitalization capabilities. Furthermore, operational-adjustment agility alone does not significantly affect international performance; however, its interaction with market-capitalizing agility demonstrates a synergistic effect that enhances performance.
Theodosiou et al. (Fri,) studied this question.