Extending Tan’s Internationalization Readiness Model: Organizational and Digital Capabilities of Non-Exporting MSMEs

Abstract

This article develops a new conceptual model that extends the internationalization readiness model of Tan, Brewer, and Liesch (2007), a foundational theoretical framework for the pre-export phase. Conventional export readiness models assume that firms already possess basic export capacity, limiting their relevance for MSMEs that have never exported. Drawing on a semi-systematic literature review with two-stage screening and deductive–inductive coding, the study extends Tan et al.’s core constructs—stimuli, attitudinal commitment, firm resources, and lateral rigidity—to non-exporting MSMEs. The extension introduces organizational and digital capabilities between the pre-export core and operational export readiness; the two layers are linked by absorptive capacity and moderated by environmental enablers. Five propositions are formulated to explain routinization as the mechanism that converts commitment into readiness, the task conditions that determine whether digital capability complements or substitutes for organizational capability, and three environmental mechanisms. The study also proposes formative indicators. The framework is intended as a diagnostic tool rather than a predictive model and still requires empirical validation.