1. The article discusses the cognitive foundations of firm internationalization and identifies nine specific areas of research, including managerial learning and intra-organizational perceptions.
2. The concept of cognition plays a key role in explaining managerial behaviors and their influence on firm performance.
3. The Uppsala model, which is the most cited and influential model in the research on firm internationalization process, explicitly builds on the heritage of the Carnegie School and its cognition-based modeling of firm activities.
The article "Cognitive foundations of firm internationalization: A systematic review and agenda for future research" provides a comprehensive overview of the role of cognitive processes in the internationalization of firms. The authors identify three main streams of research related to internationalization, with the third stream focusing on cognitive processes. They argue that this area provides several important and unaddressed questions for further research.
The article begins by defining cognition and management, highlighting the importance of managerial cognition in explaining organizational outcomes. The authors trace the roots of managerial cognition back to the behavioral decision theory developed by Cyert and March (1963) and Simon (1947). They note that recent research has focused on how knowledge structures evolve through practice and experience.
The authors then turn their attention to the topic of firm internationalization, which has been extensively studied over the past few decades. They note that the Uppsala model is one of the most influential models in this area, explicitly building on the heritage of the Carnegie School and its cognition-based modeling of firm activities. The model conceptualizes decision-making regarding international commitment based on risk reduction achieved through experiential learning.
While the article provides a thorough overview of these topics, it does have some potential biases and limitations. For example, it focuses primarily on cognitive processes as they relate to firm internationalization, neglecting other factors such as institutional environments or cultural differences that may also play a role in shaping firms' decisions to expand internationally.
Additionally, while the authors suggest that additional scholarly attention should be paid to areas such as managerial learning and intra-organizational perceptions, they do not provide concrete examples or suggestions for how this might be accomplished. This lack of specificity may limit the usefulness of their recommendations for future research.
Overall, while this article provides a valuable contribution to our understanding of cognitive processes in firm internationalization, it would benefit from more nuanced consideration of other factors that may influence these decisions. Additionally, more specific recommendations for future research would help to guide scholars in this area.