The Internationalisation of Small to Medium-Sized Retail Companies: Towards A Conceptual Framework

The internationalisation of large multinational retailers is well documented and much research attention has been given to their processes, motives and strategies for expansion. However, a successful international retailer does not necessarily have to be a large retailer. Dynamic smallerretailers with strong concepts, formats and products have shown themselves capable of rapid international growth. To date there has been a distinct lack of research on the internationalisation of small to medium-sized companies (SMEs) operating in the retail sector. Any discussion of SME internationalisationwithin the retail industry should recognise that research on large multinational corporations is not directly transferable to small and medium-sized firms who by their very nature and characteristics embrace a very different set of opportunities in the international market. To address thisgap in research, this paper draws upon broader established international SME and entrepreneurship literatures to provide a framework for examining some of the key aspects of the internationalisation of retail SMEs.     

BETWEEN PRAGMATISM AND PRINCIPLE: Legalization,Political Economy,and the WTO's Subsidy Agreement

How might the World Trade Organization's (WTO) subsidies regulations affect the development of national industrial policies? This question is investigated by examining two recent WTO cases involving small, open economies which emphasize state support for high value-added, export-oriented industries: Australia and Canada. The analysis centers on the degree to which the disputes panels in each case sought to balance the conflicting demands of enforcing common international rules on subsidy with the recognition that states continue to enjoy the right under WTO to subsidize firms. It finds that in both cases panels tried to avoid imposing broad rules and instead looked at the particular circumstances of each dispute. While this approach is more accommodating of state sovereignty concerns, the use of commercial referents for governments loans, coupled with the "purpose" standard, may yet impose constraints on small economies seeking to develop higher value added sectors.     

The White Paper on Growth,Competitiveness and Employment and Greek Small and Medium Sized Enterprises

This paper makes an assessment of the homo-genous approach and policy measures towards SMEs, adopted by the White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment and by national policies in Greece. It is demonstrated that there is a key distinction between the structure of competitive, high-tech, highly-specialized SMEs in advanced countries, whose size is determined by the size of the international niche market where they compete, on the one hand and on the other, SMEs in Greece or in other less developed member-states, whose (micro) size is determined by the local markets they serve, while in most cases they do not have the marketing skills/approach to address export markets. Copying successful instruments for SMEs in advanced countries can thus be most dangerous for the less developed countries, since the industrial organization of the typical SME is very different from those SMEs in Northern Europe. Therefore, the effects of policy measures, without further modifications, will be different from those envisioned by the EU policy-makers. Increasing the utilization of assistance by SMEs in less developed member-states is likely to be more effective if the assistance focuses on incentives and services, which support cooperative action in local and foreign markets, rather than on direct SME financing.     

创新优势与我国中小企业集群成长

2 0世纪 90年代以来 ,作为一种产业组织形式的企业集群研究再度兴起。本文在初步构建了中小企业集群成长的宏观、中观与微观三维度构架的基础上 ,着重分析了我国目前企业集群创新优势的缺失及其对我国中小企业集群效率的制约与影响。最后从政府、集群和企业自身的角度 ,提出了我国中小企业集群效率改进的措施。     

芜湖汽车及零部件产业集群升级研究——基于全球价值链视角

产业集群是促进区域经济发展的重要动力。如何提升产业集群的竞争力,已成为理论界关注的热点。嵌入全球价值链,不仅能够使地方产业集群进入国际市场,而且能够沿着价值链进行产业升级,由价值链的低附加值环节向高附加值环节移动。不同的价值链治理模式对产业升级有不同的影响。产业集群应在充分认识自身所处价值环节的基础上,选择适合自身发展的升级模式。     

International social SMEs in emerging countries: Do governments support their international growth?

Through an empirical research developed based on a sample of five international social SMEs in a Chinese city, this study examines the internationalization of social enterprises. Its purpose is to evaluate the role played by governments in supporting international growth. This is done using behavioural theory dimensions of prevalence, relevance, urgency, accessibility, and radicalness. From our analysis, local government supports the launch of social SMEs but this is limited to their growth stage. Entrepreneurial skills and external networks, thus, become crucial factors in the development of a new international business development model, encouraging further scholarly investigation.     

SMEs, Social Capital and the Common Good

In this paper we report on empirical research which investigates social capital of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs). Bringing an international perspective to the work, we make a comparison between 30 firms located in West London and Munich in the sectors of food manufacturing/production, marketing services and garages. Here we present 6 case studies, which we use to illustrate the early findings from this pilot project. We identify differences in approach to associational membership in Germany and the U.K., with a greater propensity to "belong" to an official group in Germany. We distinguish clear sectoral similarities across the countries, and indications that certain personality types will seek out engagement and find time beyond busy work life schedules, often merging work/home/leisure life and friends. Some of our cases illustrate that formal institutions, networks and mutual relationships can develop social capital for the SME, although we should take care not to assume a universal win-win situation for those who are engaged and contribute to the common good. Some of the obstacles to co-operation and civic engagement are outlined.     

The Influence of Domestic Interfirm Networks on the Internationalization Process of Taiwanese SMEs

This study investigated how domestic interfirm networks contribute to a better understanding of the internationalization process of Taiwanese small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the automobile and textiles sectors. The rapid growth of business networks in Taiwan's newly internationalizing firms provides an appropriate context in which to study the emergence and evolution of such networks. Findings from the in-depth case studies indicate that domestic interfirm networks are a major factor in the decision to internationalize. Furthermore, the benefits of assured orders in an unknown international market coupled with the availability of market information from other network partners can be a potential source of competitive advantage for the internationalized SME.     

Entrepreneurs Use a Balanced Scorecard to Translate Strategy into Performance Measures

Although 50 percent of Fortune 1000 companies currently use a balanced scorecard (BSC), few small businesses are using a BSC. A review of the literature finds no BSC papers in leading small business/entrepreneurship journals. This article begins with a discussion of the BSC and why a small business should use it. Three small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) case studies are presented, with a copy of their BSC, to illustrate how Hyde Park Electronics, Futura Industries, and Southern Gardens Citrus use a BSC to set strategy and align operations to achieve breakthrough results. Implications are, that like large businesses, SMEs can also benefit from using a BSC. Entrepreneurs of SMEs can use the case studies to develop their own BSC to improve performance. Implications for practice and research are discussed.     

地方政府土地财政的规模估算及动机检验--来自中国省级面板数据的证据

随着中国宏观经济进入“新常态”以及房地产市场的转型调整,地方政府土地财政亟待转型,厘清土地财政的动机是关键。本文首先从分税制改革、土地供应制度、政绩考核机制等维度探讨土地财政背后的制度环境并估算出地方政府的土地财政规模;接着采用2003－2012年中国省级面板数据,从地方政府“财政压力”和“政绩考核”内外因两个方面检验土地财政的动机,发现地方政府受“政绩考核”的激励要远大于自身的“财政压力”。     

中国中小企业融资现状与政策分析

无论从总体资金结构状况还是多项典型调查的结果来看,中国中小企业融资难的问题都非常突出.为了解决这一问题,尽管近10年来中国有关当局出台了很多政策,但这些政策或由于指导思想失当,或由于存在制度性缺陷,均未能有效缓解中小企业的融资瓶颈.本文认为,为了更好地解决这一问题,必须在坚持"多样性"、"商业性"、"本地机构优先"以及"整体性发展"等原则的基础上,因地制宜地采取措施才有可能真正改善中小企业的融资状况.     

Policies and international trade agreements on technical compatibility for industries with network externalities

The paper considers a country (home) in which consumers have heterogeneous preferences over ex ante incompatible domestic and imported products and benefit from a network externality. We analyze the cases with trade under perfect competition and the international duopoly, in which both governments strategically use policies toward compatibility but cannot use conventional trade policies. In both cases, the equilibrium outcome of the non-cooperative game depends upon the strength of the network externality effect and involves either an excessively high equilibrium level of compatibility (in combination with either too much or too little trade) or very low equilibrium levels of both compatibility and trade. The paper concludes with the analysis of the international agreements on policies toward compatibility and evaluates the existing provisions in the WTO legal system aimed at minimizing the trade-inhibiting impact of standards and regulations in the area of technical compatibility.     

The effect of network competence and environmental hostility on the internationalization of SMEs

Research findings suggest that networks offer small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) opportunities to internationalize successfully. However, the role of internal organizational competence in the process of developing and maintaining such networks in hostile external environments has received little attention. The aim of this study is to shed light on the relationship by examining the positive influence that the network competence of SMEs has on their propensity to internationalize, and on their subsequent international performance. Given that the willingness of firms to enter and perform well in markets appears to also depend on environmental hostilities, this external influence on SME internationalization is incorporated into the study. We also examine whether the level of environmental hostility moderates the relationship between network competence and SME internationalization. The empirical part of the study comprises a web survey of 298 Finnish SMEs representing five different industry sectors: metal, food, furniture, software, and knowledge-intensive business services. Confirmatory factor analysis and regression models are used in the analysis. The results indicate that higher levels of network competence are positively related to the propensity of SMEs to internationalize, as well as to their international performance. Conversely, the level of environmental hostility has a negative effect on the performance measure, but not on the internationalization propensity. Additionally, the influence of network competence is not moderated by environmental hostility. The results indicate that internal network competence and external environmental hostility play a role in SME internationalization, and that the positive influence of network competence exists independently of the hostility in the environment.     

管理贸易政策调整与经贸可持续发展问题探讨——基于青岛市管理贸易政策的研究

管理贸易政策是各贸易主体参与国际分工中为追求最大化贸易利益而实施的政策。随着各国政府宏观调控的加强,管理贸易政策成为一个国家或地区经贸可持续发展的重要支撑之一。青岛是典型的以对外贸易拉动经济增长的城市,通过研究青岛市经贸发展中存在的问题,探讨通过管理贸易政策调整寻求实现经贸可持续发展的路径,为地方经济提供具体政策建议同时对我国类似的地区经贸发展提供可借鉴的经验。     

中国海外R&D主体的创新培育

当前,中国海外R&D活动存在"主体性"缺位、大企业跨国R&D活动与中小民营科技企业之间存在体制性阻隔、海外R&D微观主体的低层次性及其在国际R&D联盟中被"边缘化"等问题。上述问题严重制约海外R&D投入效益及对外投资国际竞争力的提升。为此,应加强中国海外R&D主体结构的转型升级,构建大企业与中小科技型企业海外R&D互动机制,大力培育"小巨人"跨国公司,并使其逐步成为中国海外R&D的微观主体。     

The Potential and Challenge of the Network Realization Capability for SMEs in Ireland and Finland

In recognizing that the term ‘network’ can be interpreted in a multitude of ways and from a number of varying perspectives, the purpose of this article is to report the findings of a study designed to determine whether SME owner/manager see networks as an industrial relationship phenomenon. This gap, termed ‘realization capability’ refers to the SMEs’ ability to visualize the inter-organizational embedded systems that they are a part of that could enhance their marketing efforts. Bonds tie network members together and provide the context for relationships. Therefore, in measuring the level of SME realization capability the authors conceptualized the concept into social and structural bonds to ascertain the network perspective of the SME participants. To determine the level of realization of SME actors, a participatory action research method was employed in an Irish setting and compared to a control group in Finland. Findings suggest that from an Irish perspective, realization was low, highlighting that misconceptions existed amongst the SMEs regarding the nature and dynamics of networks whereby they were viewed as a predominantly personal contact structure. Conversely, the Finnish participants viewed networks as interconnected business relationships, continually operating in close collaboration with other stakeholders within their business. The findings are discussed in detail as they raise the barrier for many SMEs to participate in networks which by definition are proposed as cost effective solutions which can address many of the gaps to implementing marketing approaches by SMEs.     

Neuregelung des bundesstaatlichen Finanzausgleichs: Umverteilungs- und Verbleibseffekte

The paper explores effects of the revision of the system of fiscal equalisation in Germany as recently agreed upon by the federal and state governments. More specifically, using a simulation analysis, it explores the distribution of gains and losses associated with changes in horizontal and vertical fiscal flows. In addition, the paper determines the degree of fiscal redistribution. While the degree of fiscal redistribution is found to be reduced for major revenue sources, local tax revenues are subject to much higher redistribution than under the status quo. Increases in local tax revenues might even result in total revenue losses for some states.     

Effectiveness and efficiency of SME innovation policy

This paper assesses UK innovation policy impact on a large, population weighted, sample of both service and manufacturing SMEs. By focussing on self-reported innovation the study achieves a wider coverage of the effects of SME innovation policy than possible with more traditional indicators. Propensity score matching indicates that SMEs receiving UK state support for innovation were more likely to innovate than unsupported comparable enterprises. Innovating enterprises are shown to have grown significantly faster over the years 2002–2004 when other growth influences are appropriately controlled. Combining these two results and comparing the outlays on SME innovation policy with the estimated effects suggests that policy was efficient as well as effective. There is evidence that SME tax credits were expensive compared with earlier support instruments. But the overall high returns estimated suggest that, even in times of public spending cuts, persisting with SME innovation policy would be prudent.