Journal of Business Research 134 (2021) 352–364 Available online 3 June 2021 0148-2963/© 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Context-specifc micro-foundations and successful SME internationalisation in emerging markets: A mixed-method analysis of managerial resources and dynamic capabilities Vahid Jafari-Sadeghi a, * , Hannan Amoozad Mahdiraji b, c , Stefano Bresciani d , Anna Claudia Pellicelli d a Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom b Leicester Castle Business School, De Montfort University, Leicester, United Kingdom c Department of Management, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran d Department of Management, School of Economics and Management, University of Turin, Turin, Italy A R T I C L E INFO Keywords: SME internationalisation Dynamic capabilities International networking and vision Emerging markets Mixed-method analysis ISM MICMAC ABSTRACT Building on the resource-based view, this study aims to address the scant research on the context-specifc micro- foundations that impact on internationalisation of SMEs in emerging markets. Therefore, the paper explores managerial resources and dynamic capabilities in three categories of international networking, vision, and experience and competence. In this regard, we employ a mixed-method analysis and focus on Iran as repre- sentative of a low supportive institutional context for SME internationalisation belongs to emerging markets. Hence, in qualitative analysis, we utilise multiple case study and conduct ten interviews, which led to the identifcation of fourteen important managerial resources and capabilities. This is followed by expert-based decision-making approaches, taking advantage of interpretive structural modelling (ISM) and Matrix-based Multiplication Applied to a Classifcation (MICMAC), which contributed to investigation the relative function of identifed factors as well as proposing a conceptual framework for the inter- and cross-relationships among explored drivers in three targeted categories and provides theoretical and practical suggestions. 1. Introduction In a rapidly evolving global business environment, it is inevitable for economies to promote and support the participation of frms from the country presence in global markets (Lindstrand & Hånell, 2017; Menzies et al., 2020). Particularly for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), internationalisation, as known among the most intricate and challenging strategies, provides an opportunity not only to survive but also to look for success and growth (Dimitratos et al., 2016; Fern´ andez & Nieto, 2005). While it is generally accepted that recent technological advancements, as well as the reduction in trade barriers, have assisted ventures in their internationalisation processes (Jafari-Sadeghi, Dutta, Ferraris, & Del Giudice, 2020; Jafari-Sadeghi, Kimiagari, & Biancone, 2020; Jafari-Sadeghi, Nkongolo-Bakenda, Dana, Anderson, & Biancone, 2020; Jean et al., 2020; Leonidou, 2004), it has also been observed that environmental changes have played only a limited or even negative role in decisions by ventures to expand their markets internationally (Acs et al., 2003; Dana & Wright, 2009). Thus, in this accelerating evolving environment, frms need to adopt an integrated policy, taking into ac- count favourable and unfavourable environmental factors with their global activities (Chichilnisky & Heal, 1986; Lindsay et al., 2017). In the international business literature, researchers have concen- trated on the extents to which contributes to the internationalisation of SME. However, several shortcomings and gaps have been found in extant research. To start with, international entrepreneurship scholars have advocated a focus at different levels: some on the environmental characteristics (e.g., Bruton et al., 2010; Sadeghi et al., 2019), others on business characteristics (e.g., Henley & Song, 2020), however, there has been less attention to lower levels, in particular at the individual level (Adams et al., 2009; Gavetti, 2005). The scant research suggests more exploration of micro-foundations perspectives that potentially are more fundamental and stable (Chittoor et al., 2019). In this vein, the interest * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: Vahid.Jafari-Sadeghi@Northumbria.ac.uk (V. Jafari-Sadeghi), Hannan.Amoozadmahdiraji@dmu.ac.uk, h.amoozad@ut.ac.ir (H. Amoozad Mahdiraji), Stefano.Bresciani@unito.it (S. Bresciani), Annaclaudia.Pellicelli@unito.it (A.C. Pellicelli). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Business Research journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.05.027 Received 21 November 2020; Received in revised form 11 May 2021; Accepted 15 May 2021