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The effect of national culture on SME competitive dynamics

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Abstract

This paper advances knowledge of how national culture affects firm behavior. From the perspective of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and Meyer’s culture scales, we predict differences in the awareness-motivation-capability framework of competitive dynamics across four national cultures. A survey sample of 263 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in France, India, Kenya, and the United States provides evidence of the hypothesized competitive differences. The cultural traits of individualism and indulgence often lead to a reduced sense of competitiveness. Moreover, within individualistic cultures, motivation is linked with an uptick in competitive ability but a decline in competitive consciousness, implying that companies in such cultures tend to take action without extensive deliberation. This investigation addresses two significant gaps in research. Firstly, it combines the research areas of competitive dynamics and culture, which have not previously been intertwined in empirical studies, despite culture's known influence on various business practices. Secondly, it sheds light on how varying levels of competition impact businesses by bridging the gap between research on competitive dynamics and SMEs.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA, USA

    John W. Upson & Kimberly M. Green

  2. University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya

    Bitange Ndemo

  3. Vidyashilp University, Bangalore, India

    Radhika Lobo

  4. Ecole de Management de Normandie, Le Havre, France

    Nazik Fadil

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  1. John W. Upson
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  2. Bitange Ndemo
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  3. Radhika Lobo
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  4. Nazik Fadil
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Contributions

JU and KG gathered the United States data. BN gathered the Kenyan data. RL gathered the India data. NF gathered the France data. JU was the major contributor to writing the manuscript. BN, RL, NF, and KG reviewed the manuscript multiple times and offered critical edits. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Upson, J.W., Ndemo, B., Lobo, R. et al. The effect of national culture on SME competitive dynamics. J Glob Entrepr Res 13, 22 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40497-023-00368-y

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