Degree Of Internationalization A Multidimensional Challenge

Abstract

Studies dealing with the internationality of executive boards of large enterprises show that their internationality as measured by share of foreign sales differs significantly from the internationality of the enterprise activities. This was confirmed by the present survey on medium-sized enterprises from Singapore. Furthermore, it could be noticed that on the one hand that in order to explain exeutive board internationality, the internationality indicator International work experience of the executive board members has a high importance compared to the three other indicators examined, i.e. multinationality expressed as the board members nationality, international education, and international relations. On the other hand this indicator is the only one that has a measurable influence on the internationality of the enterprise activities the latter being measured by the companys share of foreign sales. This lets indicator multi-nationality that is frequently used in literature as a key-indicator of the internationality of an executive board appear to be overrated compared to other indicators generally used in studies on internationality. Thus, future studies in the field should consider its rather limited explanatory value.