Internationalization stages of traditional SMEs: Increasing,decreasing and re-increasing commitment to foreign markets

SMEs attempt to accelerate and diversify their international expansion strategies. The purpose of this article is to identify the internationalization stages followed by traditional SMEs to seize global market opportunities. The authors analyze the internationalization paths of five French SMEs operating in traditional manufacturing industries. The empirical study is mainly based on 66 interviews. The findings indicate that the internationalization process of SMEs continues to follow several stages, but that their commitment to foreign markets may increase, decrease and re-increase. The identified stages, which can be triggered by internal and external factors, reflect characteristics of different internationalization models proposed in the literature.     

Learning about foreign markets: A study of Czech SMEs

Drawing on the organizational learning literature, our study examines the role of foreign market knowledge and firm emphasis on technological innovation in the internationalization of small, entrepreneurial firms in the Czech Republic. It is based on a sample of 168 SMEs representing a broad range of manufacturing industries that were founded after the fall of communism and as the Czech economy was transitioning to a more market-based economy. Findings indicate that emphasis on technological innovation is associated with greater acquisition of foreign market knowledge. In addition, our results indicate that emphasis on technological innovation directly and indirectly influences the performance of such SMEs in international markets. Our findings also suggest that foreign market knowledge partially mediates the relationship between firm emphasis on technological innovation and international performance. Implications of our findings from the perspective of theory and practice are discussed.     

International Expansion of SMEs: The Inducascos Case

While small and medium enterprises contribute to gross domestic product, generate crucial employment, and improve socio-economic development, unfortunately the literature on the internationalization processes of these companies remains timid and inconsistent. The following study seeks to analyze the international expansion of the Colombian company Inducascos. The research follows the structure of a case study including literature analysis and secondary data of the Colombian industrial market and Inducascos. Challenges, opportunities and learning process of the organization related to its international expansion and set out, seeking to contribute to the existing studies in international business.     

Entry to foreign markets and productivity: Evidence from a matched sample of Turkish manufacturing firms

We examine the effects of international trading activities of firms on creating productivity gains in Turkey by using a recent firm-level data set over the period 2003–2010. We establish treatment models and investigate the productivity improvements of firms through trade by using propensity score matching techniques together with difference-in-difference estimates. Three different groups of treatment are constructed: (1) firms that are involved only with import activities, (2) firms that are involved only with export activities and (3) firms that are involved with both export and import activities. The results of the study suggest that both exporting and importing have positive significant effects on total factor productivity (TFP) and labour productivity (LP) of firms. Importing is found to have a greater impact on productivity of firms compared to exporting. Further, two-way trade is found to have more significant effects than those of one-way trade on firm productivity. Finally, our results indicate that international trade has greater impact on LP rather than TFP of firms.     

中小企业国际化经营转型的制度困境及发展路径

中小企业“浅度”的国际化经营是以出口和加工贸易为主体、以低价竞争为手段、以廉价劳动力资源为核心、以低附加值产品为载体,不利于中小企业在拓展国际市场的同时迅速成长并形成核心竞争力。中国中小企业要实现从“浅度”向“深度”国际化经营的转型,必须以战略规划促进成长,突破企业制度的约束;以特色经营拓展市场,突破贸易制度的约束;以企业集群强化优势,突破产业制度的约束;以品牌塑造提高影响力,突破市场体制的约束;以技术创新形成核心竞争力,突破企业间合作制度的约束。     

Targeting Export Support to SMEs: Owners' International Experience as a Segmentation Basis

This paper addresses the issue of how export support programs can be effectively targeted to SMEs. This paper argues that the normally low awareness and usage of export support programs among SME owners can be countered by segmentation based on their level of export experience. The paper develops a theoretical rationale for this segmentation basis and develops hypotheses related to it. The hypotheses are tested, and largely supported, using data from Canadian SME exporters and pre-exporters. Results indicate that segmentation based on owners' level of export experience can be an effective supplement to current segmentation bases. Implications of the results for providers of export support services are discussed in the concluding section.     

Linking Processes and Dynamic Capabilities of International SMEs: The Mediating Effect of International Entrepreneurial Orientation

Previous research on the internationalization of small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) has highlighted the role of knowledge and learning about foreign markets. However, empirical results on the performance implications of foreign market scanning and planning have been mixed. Following the dynamic capability perspective, we argue that SMEs can capitalize on scanning and planning processes because of their international entrepreneurial orientation. We test our hypotheses with a sample of 604 established SMEs and find that entrepreneurial orientation completely mediates the relationship between scanning and planning and international performance. Moreover, the results implicate a bidirectional relationship between processes and international entrepreneurial orientation.     

Entry and market share success of new brands in concentrated markets

Two hypotheses related to the concentration/entry issue were tested. Unlike previous studies that have approached the issue from the standpoint of the number of firms that enter concentrated versus relatively nonconcentrated industries, the concentration/entry issue was studied at the brand level. Specifically, two hypotheses were tested: 1) an inverse relationship exists between brand concentration and number of brand entrants, and 2) an inverse relationship exists between brand concentration and success of brand entrants. Whereas the results did reveal the existence of an inverse relationship between concentration and number of entrants, it was extremely weak. The second hypothesis that the market share success of new brand entrants is inversely related to brand concentration was not supported by test results.     

国际市场进入模式选择与企业异质性：一个文献综述

生产率差异是决定企业国际市场进入模式选择的重要因素。本文通过梳理近年来异质性企业贸易与投资文献,阐释了企业如何在贸易、水平型FDI、垂直型FDI和复合型FDI之间进行选择以及选择FDI的企业会采取何种进入方式的问题。现有的异质性企业贸易与投资模型较好地解释了发达国家的经验事实,但在企业异质性的来源、消费者需求结构以及发展中国家的市场扭曲等方面,异质性企业贸易和投资模型仍需进一步深入研究。     

International portfolio diversification: US and Central European equity markets

This paper examines the short- and long-term relationships between the US stock market and three Central European markets. Low short-term correlations between these markets and the US are found. Application of the Johansen cointegration procedure indicates that there is no long-term relationship. The Granger-causality test does reveal a causality running from the Hungarian to the Polish market, but none with the US. Overall, the results suggest that US investors can obtain benefits from international diversification into these markets.     

International network management for the purpose of host market expansion: The mediating effect of co-innovation in the networks of SMEs

Research shows that innovation facilitates internationalization and that the customer network is an important source of technical and market knowledge. Yet, little is known about how co-innovation within a business relationship with a key international customer relates to international network management and international growth beyond the focal business relationship. The paper contributes to international entrepreneurship research by investigating (1) international business relationship learning mechanisms that reinforce co-innovation within a dyadic business relationship with a key customer (2) and the link between co-innovation outcome in the business relationship and international network management for purposes of foreign market expansion beyond the dyadic business relationship. Three hypotheses were developed and tested on a sample of 188 internationalizing small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) using linear structural relations (LISREL) structural equation modeling. The analysis shows that an SME’s (i) awareness of a customer’s complementary knowledge and (ii) innovation-oriented customer relationships leads to increased co-innovation within a dyadic business relationship with a key customer. Moreover, successful co-innovation with a key customer increases the likelihood that the focal SME will attempt at international network management by drawing on the key customer as a bridge to new customers and suppliers on the foreign host market. The findings provide a link between innovation within a dyadic business relationship and international network management for the purpose of foreign market expansion into the wider network on the host market. The findings hence contribute to our understanding of the mediating role of co-innovation in the internationalization process of SMEs.     

Profiling exporting and nonexporting service firms: Critical differences to decision-makers

The internationalization of services has become a critical element in the global marketplace. While the internationalization of services has increased in importance, the lack of empirically based research has been a shortcoming. This article empirically examines key characteristics (i.e., total sales, number of employees, age of firm, management's desire to export, perceived profit potential from internationalization, top management's foreign language skills, and international work experience) separating exporting from nonexporting domestic-based service firms. It provides a profile for the exporting service firm that is distinctly different than that of the nonexporting service provider. These differences suggest important policy considerations for federal and state export promotion agencies and strategy considerations for service firm owners and management. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

International strategy and performance—Clustering strategic types of SMEs

This paper identifies different strategic types of internationalised SMEs, in so doing providing managers and entrepreneurs with a much better understanding of the main strategic options and their relationship with the international performance of firms. We provide a theoretical analysis of strategic orientations and strategic behaviour in international SMEs, followed by an empirical investigation based on a sample of Italian SMEs. The SMEs are grouped into strategic types using cluster analysis, and the link between strategic type and international performance is subsequently analysed using logistic regression. The empirical data suggest that there are four broad strategic types, namely an entrepreneurial/growth-oriented group of firms, a customer-oriented group, a product/inward-oriented cluster, and a further group of firms that lacks strategic orientation. The characteristics of the strategic clusters are discussed, and the regression results show that a clear and proactive strategic orientation and its consistency with business strategy leads to improved international performance. This confirms the positive and highly significant role of strategic types.     

Adopting EDI in a network enterprise: the case of subcontracting SMEs

Electronic data interchange (EDI) has become one of the essential tools in the development of new forms of organization. One such form is the network enterprise, grouping a number of small and medium-sized enterprises (subcontractors, suppliers, distributors; SMEs) around a large enterprise (pivot firm). This paper presents the results of an empirical study of fifteen subcontracting SMEs, designed to validate an evaluation model of the potential for EDI in the context of a network enterprise. The firms are characterized in terms of external influences, predisposition of the organizational context, perception of EDI and business processes, and classified into three groups, namely the “committed” adopters, the “involuntary” adopters, and the “belated” adopters.     

注册会计师行业准入管制制度:国际比较及启示

本文比较研究了美英日德四国的注册会计师行业准入管制制度,它们具有环境依赖性、严格规定注册会计师资格的取得条件、没有进一步细分注册会计师行业市场、设置严厉的市场惩戒机制等特征.我国的注册会计师行业准入管制制度应提高审计主体准入门槛,协调监管部门之间的关系并逐步弱化政府行政干预的力量,加强审计主体入市后跟踪管理并完善退出机制.     

International involvement of established SMEs: A systematic review of antecedents,outcomes and moderators

This article seeks to review the present state of research on established SME's international involvement. Based on a literature review of 121 articles, we develop an integrative framework that examines the antecedents, outcomes and moderators of SME international involvement. We critically assess and examine how the literature has evolved over the last three decades. Particular attention is paid to discussing the main findings, theoretical and methodological inconsistencies, and to providing suggestions for future research. The review reveals that while international involvement research has made considerable progress over the last few years, its advances have been uneven and leave important areas of research unexplored.     

The reversibility of different types of capital flows to emerging markets

We investigate whether some types of capital flows are more likely to reverse than others during currency crises. Earlier statistical testing has yielded conflicting results on this issue. We argue that the problem with the earlier studies is that the degree of variability of capital flows during normal or inflow periods may give little clue to their behavior during crises and it is the latter that is most important for policy. Using data for 35 emerging economies for 1990 through 2003, we confirm that direct investment is the most stable category, but find that contrary to much popular analysis, private loans on average are as reversible as portfolio flows.     

Outsidership,network positions and cooperation among internationalizing SMEs: An industry evolutionary perspective

Immigrant entrepreneurship, like other market entries, continues to be examined in most studies as an event, and not as a process of ongoing interactions and exchanges that would adequately address the influence on such a transition of collaborative engagements and of industry evolution in the host market. Adopting an industry evolutionary perspective, we examine the facilitating role played by cooperative strategies among immigrant-run SMEs. Using a small number of valued customer and competitor relationships, we draw from case studies to show how both immigrant and native run SMEs gain knowledge and resources through collaborative engagements to extend into new customer segments. These relationships enable them to mitigate their outsidership by adopting positions on the edges of networks that allow them to avoid competing directly against other internationalizing SMEs abroad or in their home markets. Using context to build an industry evolutionary perspective, we observe their entry into collaborative engagements with intermediaries in other business networks to build additional industry segments in the less understood maturing industry phase. This study shows how native-run Italian internationalizing SMEs accessed the resources of immigrant Chinese business networks and developed capabilities for mutual benefit.