Word from the Guest Editors: 13th Annual Atlas-AFMI Conference

For companies, deciding to expand internationally based on performance objectives requires managing uncertainties relating to innovation, intercultural management and adapting to international contexts. This special feature presents six articles that explore the organizational and human factors influencing international success amidst uncertainty. More specifically, the articles examine the internal decision-making, learning and collaborative processes in complex and evolving environments. The articles also emphasize the importance of strategic flexibility, innovation capacity and alignment between partners, particularly in international joint ventures. In short, this research identifies the challenges and drivers of international business competitiveness. The articles propose approaches combining structure, culture, gender and strategy (in particular decarbonization strategy), all of which are essential to international management. The articles are based on work presented at the Atlas-AFMI (Association Francophone de Management International) annual conference, organized by the Institut d’Administration des Entreprises (IAE) from Bordeaux (Bordeaux university School of Management) from 3 to 5 July 2023. The first article, by Christoph Barmeyer, Eric Davoine and Birgit Gabriel, addresses the emergence of new organizational practices known as synergistic in a binational environment, specifically in the case of ARTE. The authors identify three types of factors that facilitate the development of these practices: organizational structures, stakeholder skills and the regulation of the learning process. The second article by Hamadou Boubacar and Ghassen Bouslama explores the impact of gender diversity on the boards of directors of international French SMEs and their financial performance. They find that depending on the type of internationalization, the presence of women on the board of directors positively impacts the financial performance of SMEs that are exclusive exporters. However, it has a negative effect on the financial performance of those that internationalize solely through subsidiaries or combine exports and subsidiaries. The third article presents the work of Josée St-Pierre, Crispin Enagogo, Jean Pierre Menguele and Jalal El Fadil. It focuses on the behaviours adopted by exporting SMEs in the face of the risks of their international activities. An analysis of 235 exporting manufacturing SMEs in Quebec reveals a variety of behaviors, which the study attributes to the risk context and the level of commitment to exporting. The results of this research show that SMEs most strongly committed to distant markets are more active in risk management and record higher overall performance rates. The fourth article, by Magdalena Godek Brunel and Dora Triki, highlights the internationalization processes of innovative companies that use distinct decision-making logic different to that of traditional companies in mature industries. The authors conducted a longitudinal study of the decision-making processes of five innovative French companies at various stages of internationalization. Their findings demonstrate that, depending on the context and resources, managers’ decision-making processes can evolve several times throughout the internationalization process, particularly when selecting and entering a target market. The fifth article, written by Jihene Cherbib, João Avila and Maryem Cherni, presents a study examining the factors that determine ambidexterity in international agri-food joint ventures, as well as its influence on business model innovation. Using a qualitative longitudinal approach, the authors analyze five international joint ventures between SMEs and multinationals, focusing on the interaction between the partners’ innovation and learning orientations, and the resulting level of ambidexterity. The results demonstrate that ambidexterity is a prerequisite for stimulating business model innovation in international joint ventures, with higher levels of ambidexterity promoting this innovation more effectively. Finally, the sixth article, written by Johannes Schaaper, Emmanuelle Sauvage, and Franck Duquesnois, is a concluding article that explains the issues associated with the central theme chosen for the 13th Atlas-AFMI Conference in 2023: “Decarbonizing international management.” This choice comes at a time when the effects of …