Internationalization of SMEs

• internationalisation is risky, managers are risk averse
• market knowledge is driver of internationalisation
  • experimental (experience before knowledge) 
• resource commitment defined by market knowledge and market commitment 

1. export awareness
2. export intention
3. export trial 
4. export evaluation 
5. export acceptance 

• presented as historical descriptions
• not customer driven
• iternationalization follows patters, little influence of manager
• litlle advice to manager 

• internationalisation is a process of constinuously establishing relationships and managing them 
  • experimental knowledge 
  • relationships embedded in networks 
• firm enters market through
  • new relationships w actor in new market
  • additional commitment in already existing market 

1. early starter: low degree of int of firm, low degree of int of newtorks 
2. late starter: low degree of int of firm, low degree of int of networks
3. lonely international: high degree of int of firm, low degree of int of netowrks 
4. international among others: high degree of int of firm, high degree of int of netowrks 

• market diversification (nb of countries)
• export intensity (% of turnover abroad) 

nb of international relationships 

proportion of international relationships 

• no predictability (too many variables, no pattern)
• no criteria for types of participants
• ignores external factors and actors 

• personal or professional
• bonding ties (common background)
• bridging ties (common sector) 

• firms internationalizing in first 2 years 
  • IT sector, Australian export 
• 1990s
  • small is beautiful
  • gradual internationalization is dead 

• new developments in market 
• technological development 
• increasing global networks 
• entrepreneurs w enriched capabilities 

• entrepreneurial perspective: experience, ability 
• organizational perspective: innovation culture, business network
• strategic perpsective: competitive strategy
• external environment perspective: policies 

1. find investors
2. escape competition
3. find attractive market 
4. innovation culture 

• challenging global supply chain 
• developments 
  • reshoring and nearshoring 
  • localization and regionalization
  • contingency planning 
  • diversification
  • agility
  • visibility
  • digitalization 

• select a goal and use the means to achieve it 
  • goals and means are given
  • maximize decision outcomes 
• problem: external situation can affect plan 

• start by identifying means without fixing goal, goal emerges from interaction w stakeholders 

tangible or intangible assets a firm uses to choose and implementits strategies 

when a firm creates more economic value than its competitors 

1. valuable 
2. rare 
3. costly to imitate (time + money) 
4. without close substitutes (organized / exploited) 

-: non sustainable BM

V: short term sustainable BM

VR: profitable BM 

VRI: long term sustainable BM

VRIO: BM w competitive advantage  

familiarity, awareness or understanding 

• propostional (facts)
• procedural (skills)
• acquaintance (objects) 

ability to perform or achieve actions or outcomes 

set of demonstrable skills and characteristics to enable performance or efficiency 

• capability product of 
  • knowlegde
  • skills
• competence product of
  • capability 
  • attitude 

• explicit: codified
• tacit: intuitive and unarticulated 
  • technical (know-how)
  • cognitive (beliefs, values, mental models) 

• more turnover is more loss of knowlegde, but more new knowledge coming in 

1. identifiy
2. create
3. store
4. share
5. use 

1. internationalization knowledge
2. institutional knowledge 
3. business knowledge 
4. social network knowledge 

international market knowledge based on experimental knowledge derived through direct interaction 

2 tier market driven learning: customer and competitor learning 

1. conceptual
2. opportunity
3. relationship
4. organizing
5. strategic
6. commitment 

firm's ability to perform tasks utilizing organizational resources to achieve an end result or to improve performance 

internal dimension 

manager's openness to cultural and strategic realities 

• lean twds effectuation based logic 
• understand how to convert uncertainty into opportunity 
• manage geographically spread operations despite diversity