"The Impact of Relational Capabilities on Subcontracting SMEs Internationalization Process", Conference of the Academy of International Business - SE USA, Florida Atlantic University, October 31- Nov. 2, Fort Lauderdale, FL.

This paper analyses the role of subcontractors’ relational capabilities in linking to local hubs of internationalized networks and use them as springboards for international market. More specifically, it focuses on the causal relationships between subcontractors' relational capabilities and their degree of internationalization, mediated by the level of subcontractors' involvement with local firms and networks linked to international markets. To the best of our knowledge, only few studies have examined this topic and all of them point out a call for further research (i.e., Andersen and Christensen, 2005; Camuffo et al., 2007). A multivariate causal model has been tested through structural equation modelling on a sample of 107 subcontracting SMEs. Data suggest the positive role of local but internationalized supply networks in supporting subcontractors' internationalization processes, while it emerges that the linkage to localized multinational enterprises (MNEs) can have a negative influence on internationalization outcomes.