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Book part
Publication date: 18 November 2019

Anthony Ayakwah, Ellis L.C. Osabutey and Isaac Sakyi Damoah

A few decades ago, most research works on internationalisation were aligned to studies in developed economies. In recent times, business entrepreneurs in developing and emerging…

Abstract

A few decades ago, most research works on internationalisation were aligned to studies in developed economies. In recent times, business entrepreneurs in developing and emerging economies have shown their potential to permeate international markets. The current capability of business entrepreneurs in developing and emerging economies, which drives their ability to overcome the numerous barriers to internationalisation, particularly within clusters, requires a critical examination. As a result, the study situates the discussion on internationalisation within the theory of agglomeration in developing and emerging economies and argues that the gains enjoyed by business entrepreneurs from operating in close proximity in clusters are critical for overcoming the barriers of internationalisation. This research adopts a systematic review of secondary data to tease out the unique attributes of clusters in developing and emerging economies, which supports the internationalisation drive. The findings show that most emerging economy clusters are engaged in exports but there is minimal work on international entrepreneurs operating within clusters. The unique features that drive exporting clusters are the presence of multinational companies, public agencies and collaborative relationships. These unique features have the capacity to minimise the constraints to internationalisation and determine the export performance of businesses in the cluster.

Details

International Entrepreneurship in Emerging Markets: Nature, Drivers, Barriers and Determinants
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78769-564-1

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 28 June 2023

Elaheh Heydari, Mojtaba Rezaei, Marco Pironti and Federico Chmet

Despite the undoubted role of family firms in the economy, some main factors challenge their attempts for business internationalisation. These drivers are varied from…

Abstract

Despite the undoubted role of family firms in the economy, some main factors challenge their attempts for business internationalisation. These drivers are varied from organisational and environmental to individual attributes. This study tries to recognise and explore the impacts of the personality traits of managers, founders, and owners of family firms in their business internationalisation. The study used a questionnaire to collect data from a sample of 204 managers, founders, and owners of small- and medium-sized family firms to consider the relationship between personality traits: conscientiousness, openness, extroversion, neuroticism and agreeableness, and business internationalisation (BI). The hypotheses were analysed through structural equation modelling (SEM) using Lisrel. The results suggest different impacts of personality traits on facilitating the internationalisation process. According to the finding, extroversion and openness have a significant positive and agreeableness and conscientiousness have positive, less significant impacts on the tendency towards business internationalisation. Moreover, neuroticism impacts negatively significantly. Therefore, managers, founders, and owners of small- and medium-sized family firms who are extrovert, open, and non-neuroticism (tranquil) are more encaustic to making strategic decisions for extending their business to international markets.

Details

Decision-Making in International Entrepreneurship: Unveiling Cognitive Implications Towards Entrepreneurial Internationalisation
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80382-234-1

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 June 2017

Vitor Braga, Aldina Correia, Alexandra Braga and Sofia Lemos

The success of the family firms cannot be detached from the current paradigm where, within the present economic conditions, economic agents struggle to exploit the existing…

1369

Abstract

Purpose

The success of the family firms cannot be detached from the current paradigm where, within the present economic conditions, economic agents struggle to exploit the existing opportunities and need to take into account the risks associated to the international arena and the innovation processes. The internationalisation and innovation processes may trigger resistance within family business due to their relatively higher difficulty to take risks and to invest in industries outside the scope of their original core business. Innovation and internationalisation processes become relevant strategies for the family firms’ continuity and success. In line with such fact, the aim of this paper is to contribute with insights regarding the processes of innovation and internationalisation within family businesses. In particular, this paper aims to assess the propensity of such firms to apply such strategies, to identify the particular business behaviour and to assess the extent to which the particulars of family firms may constraint or lead to the implementation of innovation policies, and thus its internationalisation.

Design/methodology/approach

The data were collected through questionnaires within family business aiming to understand the scope and characteristics of internationalisation and innovation processes within these firms. The 154 replies from such data collection were analysed using different multivariate statistic procedures, although this paper is based on factorial and correlation analysis.

Findings

The analysis of the results shows that there is an association between the processes of innovation and internationalisation within family business. In addition, the results also suggest a typology of firms regarding their innovation and internationalisation strategies and motivations.

Research limitations/implications

The results of this paper are, to some extent, limited because they did not allow comparing the findings with data from non-family business. However, the authors’ aim was not to distinguish family firms, but rather to characterise them.

Practical implications

This paper expects to contribute with lessons for the management of family business and to raise awareness of the constraints faced by family business. It is important to highlight that family business performance may be affected by a lower propensity to risk-taking attitudes, by the lack of non-family management and to the necessity of separating the family and the business in the business dimensions that the family limits the business growth.

Originality/value

Although there is a significant amount of the literature devoted to explore family business, innovation and internationalisation studies, very few draw on the relationship between internationalisation and innovation processes within family business. This paper explores such a relationship within a particular business context – the family dynamics that strongly affect management and business development.

Details

Review of International Business and Strategy, vol. 27 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2059-6014

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 2010

Sara Urionabarrenetxea and Arturo Rodríguez Castellanos

This paper seeks to identify factors potentially conditioning firms’ financial internationalization. Companies often internationalize their financial areas as part of their larger…

2832

Abstract

Purpose

This paper seeks to identify factors potentially conditioning firms’ financial internationalization. Companies often internationalize their financial areas as part of their larger internationalization strategy. In other words, such an initiative is associated with the internationalization of non‐financial business areas. However, the move to financial internationalization may also obey a specific strategy designed to take advantage of the opportunities offered by increasingly global financial milieus and markets. Then again, of course, it may respond to a combination of the two, in which case all the factors mentioned are likely to exercise some influence.

Design/methodology/approach

To test these propositions, a sample of 461 firms located in the Basque Country (Northern Spain), were analyzed between 16 June and 13 July 2004. Primary data were collected by telephone surveys, with a specially designed questionnaire tested previously with a number of pilot businesses. The sample represents a confidence level of 95 percent and 4.25 percent as a maximum level of error. This sample was divided by company size and the sector each business worked in, maintaining, approximately, proportionality in each stratum with respect to the population. Mann‐Whitney and Kruskal‐Wallis tests and logit analysis were used, among others.

Findings

Companies most likely to go into debt abroad are larger and more internationalized commercially and in production. First are large exporting companies with one or more production facilities abroad (PFA), which are followed by: medium enterprises that export and which have at least one PFA and large companies that export but which have no PFA. The profile of firms with foreign shareholders begins with manufacturing companies that import, followed by commercial businesses that also import. One interesting feature is the low number of companies in the construction industry and the services sector, particularly the ones that neither export nor import.

Research limitations/implications

A sample of 461 firms located in the Basque Country (Northern Spain) were analyzed and thus the sample might be geographically limited. Also, the degree of financial internationalization of these firms is relatively low. A sample which covers a greater amount of financially internationalized firms, might have led to more solid conclusions.

Practical implications

The most noteworthy practical implication of the paper is the confirmation that Basque firms still do not clearly perceive opportunities for financial internationalization. The barriers and risks to be faced beyond geographical borders weigh heavily. In other words, the threats companies are exposed to outweigh potential opportunities in international markets, or the conditions for financing and domestic financial investment available are in general more favourable than the conditions obtainable abroad.

Originality/value

Within the Basque firms, even if the commercial, supply and production internationalization has been analyzed at length, the financial internationalization has not. Moreover, the profiles of financially internationalized firms have not been analyzed previously on the basis of a different sample.

Details

Managerial Finance, vol. 36 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4358

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 January 2024

Augusto Bargoni, Alberto Ferraris, Šárka Vilamová and Wan Mohd Hirwani Wan Hussain

The purpose of this paper is to provide an integrative picture of the state of the art of the literature on digitalisation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as an…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide an integrative picture of the state of the art of the literature on digitalisation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as an enabler for their internationalisation process and as a comprehensive view of the specific domains impacted by digital technologies as well as their repercussions on the international outreach.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic review which leverages a descriptive analysis of extant literature and an axial coding technique has been conducted to shed light on the current knowledge and to identify primary research areas and future research lines.

Findings

The research indicates that digitalisation impacts the internationalisation of SMEs in three specific domains: (1) internationalisation through the adoption of information and communication technologies (ICT) technologies and e-commerce platforms; (2) international expansion through the digitalisation of value chain activities and (3) international outreach through knowledge acquisition on digital platforms.

Originality/value

The value of this study is threefold. First, the authors attempt to systematically review the literature on SMEs digitalisation and internationalisation and provide a holistic perspective on the intertwining of these two research streams. Second, the authors propose a novel conceptualisation on the dimensions of SMEs digitalisation as enablers to internationalisation. Third, the authors put forward promising future lines of research.

Highlights

 

  1. Digitalisation represents a pivotal strategy that allows companies to build new strategic capabilities and is a propeller for SMEs internationalisation.

  2. Through e-commerce, SMEs could compete at the same level of multinational companies but enduring lower costs of expansion.

  3. Digital platforms allow SMEs to enhance the learning processes about international markets through an immediate access to relevant information.

  4. Digital entrepreneurship has enabled SMEs to develop new configurations of value chain activities, evolving their business model or reaching new markets.

  5. SMEs are changing the “business as usual” paradigm offering digital tools to build modular architectures that are scalable and agile in their evolution ability.

Digitalisation represents a pivotal strategy that allows companies to build new strategic capabilities and is a propeller for SMEs internationalisation.

Through e-commerce, SMEs could compete at the same level of multinational companies but enduring lower costs of expansion.

Digital platforms allow SMEs to enhance the learning processes about international markets through an immediate access to relevant information.

Digital entrepreneurship has enabled SMEs to develop new configurations of value chain activities, evolving their business model or reaching new markets.

SMEs are changing the “business as usual” paradigm offering digital tools to build modular architectures that are scalable and agile in their evolution ability.

Details

Journal of Enterprise Information Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-0398

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 28 June 2023

Faezeh Hanifzadeh, Kambiz Talebi and Parisa Rasoulian

In recent years, decision-making regarding business growth has attracted the attention of many researchers. Also, considering the importance of scale in startups for their…

Abstract

In recent years, decision-making regarding business growth has attracted the attention of many researchers. Also, considering the importance of scale in startups for their survival and the development of economies, investigating the scalability of startups in emerging markets that are booming, can be useful. Scaling for international business has taken on a new meaning: they must be leaders in both emerging as well as advanced markets; they must be responsive to customers in both departments, which require tremendous innovation and agility; they have to build the competency needed in designing, developing, and marketing the opposite for advanced world markets; and they need to demonstrate rapid decision-making, innovation, and opportunism in delivery to the cost-sensitive underdeveloped markets. As a result, decision-making about the scale of start-ups at the international level plays an important role. The internationalisation of start-up activities is an extremely important and attractive topic among researchers, entrepreneurs, and practitioners. But there is very little research and also projects on the internationalisation of start-up venture activities, particularly after the gain of scaling and exponential growth.

Details

Decision-Making in International Entrepreneurship: Unveiling Cognitive Implications Towards Entrepreneurial Internationalisation
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80382-234-1

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 March 2023

Yi-An Chen, Shiau-Ling Guo and Kuo-Feng Huang

This study aimed to explore the antecedents of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) internationalization and to compare the different resources required to enter different…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aimed to explore the antecedents of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) internationalization and to compare the different resources required to enter different geographical regions. This study adds to the discussion on internationalization from a resource-based view (RBV) and a focus on dynamic capability, especially the linkage with resources such as digital capability, domestic industrial networks and the business-to-business (B2B) model.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used secondary data collected by an SME association in 2020, using a logistic regression model to examine the hypotheses. The respondents were selected according to stratified random sampling.

Findings

Digital capability and the B2B model significantly and positively affect the likelihood of internationalization by SMEs, while domestic industrial networks were negatively correlated with this process. In addition, Taiwanese SMEs with high digital capability tend to expand to North America, Europe, Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia, Oceania and the Middle East. Smaller firms tend to develop in Southeast Asia, whereas larger firms opt to establish business in Oceania.

Research limitations/implications

A research limitation is the generalizability of the sample. Findings could be enhanced if future studies include more industries and draw comparisons among different industries or countries. Future studies could explore digital entrepreneurship from a global perspective.

Practical implications

Managers need to emphasize better the development of digital capabilities and skills for SMEs. With limited financial resources and workforce, SMEs can strengthen the competence in international markets by adopting a suitable business model. When SMEs join an association to expand SMEs foreign networks, the study suggests that SMEs carefully evaluate the characteristics of each industrial association first, given that some associations are domestic-oriented. As for public policymakers, a project grant can be used to provide digital capability training for SME employees and owners or promote building a B2B model when internationalizing.

Originality/value

The authors' findings fill the research gaps in RBVs of internationalization, especially in linking resources such as digital capability, domestic industrial networks and the B2B model. The outcomes of this research serve as a reference not only to policymakers for improving the current SME ecosystem, but also to business practitioners positioning themselves in this system.

Details

International Journal of Emerging Markets, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-8809

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 June 2017

Vanessa Ratten, Veland Ramadani, Leo-Paul Dana, Frank Hoy and Joao Ferreira

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of family entrepreneurship and internationalization strategies by discussing the papers in this special journal issue.

1599

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of family entrepreneurship and internationalization strategies by discussing the papers in this special journal issue.

Design/methodology/approach

The main research areas related to family business are discussed in terms of socioemotional wealth and societal trends. A review of the literature is conducted to highlight the emerging themes affecting the decision of family businesses to internationalize.

Findings

The paper stresses how it is important to have an entrepreneurial approach to internationalization of family businesses.

Research limitations/implications

As more family businesses are born globals, it is important to focus on the positive aspects of internationalization, including emerging markets and gaining important entrepreneurial knowledge.

Practical implications

Family businesses need to be more innovative and risk-taking in their approach to internationalization as it helps them build their reputation and increase performance.

Originality/value

As there are limited studies about family entrepreneurship and internationalization in terms of a broad view of family, this paper takes an inclusive approach to the changing nature of how a family is defined in today’s global society.

Details

Review of International Business and Strategy, vol. 27 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2059-6014

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 November 2019

Subramanian Shanmugasundaram

The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between corporate governance practices and internationalization through foreign direct investments in the context of…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between corporate governance practices and internationalization through foreign direct investments in the context of family-owned business groups in India.

Design/methodology/approach

The comparative case study method is used to understand the relationship between corporate governance practices and internationalization using four family-owned business groups in India.

Findings

The ownership concentration negatively influences the internationalization, while transparency has a positive association. Professionalization of management helps in internationalization. Overall, good corporate governance practices have a positive influence on group internationalization.

Research limitations/implications

This paper provides detailed discussions based on the case study research which would help the future research work on the relationship between corporate governance practices and internationalization.

Originality/value

The existing literature studies in this field in the context of emerging markets are inconclusive. Hence, this paper uses the case study method to understand the relationship better.

Details

Journal of Family Business Management, vol. 10 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2043-6238

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 March 2019

Shir May Ooi and Christopher Richardson

This paper aims to explore the internationalisation of service-sector small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from an emerging market, focussing on the entry modes, psychic…

2193

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the internationalisation of service-sector small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from an emerging market, focussing on the entry modes, psychic distance, business network, internationalisation challenges and capabilities of business training and consultancy firms from Malaysia.

Design/methodology/approach

A multiple-case study approach is adopted, and 31 in-depth interviews were conducted with the top management and executives from eight business training and consultation (BT&C) firms in Malaysia. The Uppsala model is used for theoretical guidance to analyse the internationalisation of the firms.

Findings

The results suggest that psychic distance, business network and business capabilities influence the internationalisation of BT&C firms from Malaysia. However, the discussion of entry modes in the framework of service internationalisation does not accurately explain the internationalisation of the studied firms.

Research limitations/implications

This study is a qualitative research based on the experiences of eight firms. The basis of this study is inadequate for scientific generalisation. Quantitative research should be conducted in the future to provide a statistical test and empirical results. This study is concerned with the emerging-market context. The study could be expanded to include more industries and other emerging markets in the future.

Practical implications

This study explored the application of internationalisation theories to the BT&C industry in an emerging market, with particular emphasis on firms’ entry modes, psychic distance, business networks, international challenges and capabilities. This study also highlighted some of the key internationalisation challenges facing emerging market small- and medium-sized enterprises (EMSMEs), underlining the importance of business networks and capabilities.

Social implications

Nevertheless, this study shares useful and practical discoveries concerning the internationalisation process of BT&C firms from the emerging market, focussing on entry modes, psychic distance, business network, the challenges faced and the required capabilities.

Originality/value

The study provides new insights into service internationalisation in SMEs from an emerging market. The application of internationalisation theories to the BT&C industry in an emerging market is analysed.

Details

Review of International Business and Strategy, vol. 29 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2059-6014

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 18000