Pathways of SME internationalization Dabić, Marina; Maley, Jane; Dana, Leo-Paul ...
Small business economics,
10/2020, Volume:
55, Issue:
3
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Business is dynamic and rapidly changing. Global markets were previously the playing field of multinational corporations (MNCs), while small and medium enterprises (SMEs) were local; however, the ...removal of imposed barriers and recent technological advances in manufacturing, transportation, and communications have indorsed SMEs and international entrepreneurs (IEs) global access. SMEs and IEs are increasingly fueling economic growth and innovation, and these trends are presenting both opportunities and challenges to both MNCs and SMEs in the global arena. This review systematically examines comparative SME and IE research, analyzing (after fine-tuning) 762 articles published in leading journals from 1992 to September 2018. Our bibliometric and systematic review classifies SME and IE research findings into three echelons: (i) subjects, (ii) theories, and (iii) methods.
The paper focuses on the theme of Industry 4.0 and evaluates the impact that the implementation of the new technology has had on a sample of specially selected companies. Through one-to-one ...interviews with the entrepreneurs of the respective chosen companies, important details emerge that allow a qualitative analysis and a quantitative analysis to be carried out. It emerges that the financial incentive proposed by the legislators was decisive and efficient to activate an important change in the industries, however, it is analyzed that to drive forward the growth of industry and collective well-being requires a strong innovation given by virtuous collaborations that as we will see in the paper will lead to discussion and converge to vision of a harmonic innovation.
Based on theory of regulatory focus and organizational ambidexterity, we hypothesize that the level of engagement in exploration and exploitation in a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME) is ...affected by the respective CEO's chronic regulatory focus. In our analysis of survey responses from CEOs in Switzerland, we find that the CEO's level of promotion focus positively affects the firm's engagement in both, exploration and exploitation, while the CEO's prevention focus is negatively associated with the firm's exploration but not significantly related to its exploitation. The positive associations between a CEO's promotion focus and the firm's exploration/exploitation activities are enhanced under conditions of intense competition.
•CEO's chronic regulatory focus affects entrepreneurship in established SMEs.•Promotion focus is positively associated with exploration and exploitation.•Prevention focus is negatively associated with exploration.•Competitive intensity interacts with promotion focus.
•This study examines the factors that affect the intention of Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs) to use social commerce as a business tool.•The researchers used the ...Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) as the theoretical framework.•The study tested the model and related hypotheses, using structural equation modelling.•The data was collected from 181 SMEs in Saudi Arabia.•The results indicate that the environmental context, had the most significant influence on behavioural intention to use social commerce by SMEs.
Social commerce is becoming an important hub for product sourcing, which helps companies to connect with customers and to gain competitive advantages. However, very little empirical research that focuses on small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has been conducted to date. This study examines factors that affect social commerce adoption by SMEs. Using the Technology-Organisation-Environment (TOE) as the theoretical framework, the researchers tested the model and related hypotheses, employing structural equation modelling. The results from a survey of 181 SMEs in Saudi Arabia indicate that trading partner pressure in the environmental context, followed by top management support in the organisational context, and perceived usefulness in the technological context, have the most significant influence on behavioural intention to use social commerce. The research contributions and conclusion as well as limitations and future research directions are presented.
This paper uses British large scale survey data to examine the extent to which the recent financial crisis has affected firms' operational activity, and whether or not the existence of human resource ...(HR) practices have influenced firms' response to recession and workers' job experience. Our findings suggest that SMEs are more vulnerable during times of economic hardship than larger firms, but those with HR practices have shown more resilience to the downturn. Also, we find that having HR practices increases the likelihood of the firm to adopt organisational measures although the response to recession differs significantly between smaller and larger firms. Finally the results indicate differences in workers' job experience during the recession which is moderated by high and low levels of management formality.
•The 2008/9 recession has had a deeper adverse impact on the SMEs than large firms.•Small firms tend to focus on pay-related cost-cutting while alternative HR measures are more evident in large organisations.•Large firms are more likely to lay off workers than SMEs.•Workers in large firms report a more wide-ranging impact of the economic crisis than those in smaller organisations.•Firms with formal HR practices have shown more resilience to the downturn.
We explore the impact of financing constraints and the role of banking markets integration on the growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The data are drawn from the European Central ...Bank/Survey on the Access to Finance of Enterprises (ECB/SAFE) on SMEs' access to finance aggregated at the country level for the largest 11 euro area countries during 2009-2015. Our findings suggest that financing constraints hamper SMEs' growth and that the effect is stronger for perceived, rather than actual, financing constraints. On the other hand, increased banking markets integration in the euro area appears to foster SMEs' growth. Furthermore, we found that the reduction in financing constraints is crucial in the transmission channel from banking markets integration to growth. This effect appears significantly stronger when integration is measured by the intensity of cross-border lending than through convergence in interest rates to loans to nonfinancial corporations.
For many SMEs innovation is essential to survive in a dynamically changing environment. Technological progress, including in particular the more intense use of digital technologies, increasingly ...pushes companies to take a fresh look at innovation and also indicates the need for changes in approach in the strategy adopted in order to become and stay innovative and competitive. New management approaches, flexibility of operations as well as product- and service-related innovativeness determines SMEs survival and development. As service SMEs start to compete more openly, rather than locally, their owners and managers have to stay alert and ready for changes. As digitization is beginning the factor which strongly influence how innovation processes are or can be implemented, also service SMEs should be actively aware of how digital transformation affects their environment. Emerging digital tools that aim to support the innovation process also influence its possible modifications, bringing a number of possible benefits and optimisations. The main objective of this paper is to expand the understanding of innovation process digitalization level and intensity in service SMEs, based on the pilot study conducted at the end of 2021 in Poland. The analysis was performed in relation to innovation process model, that included its six general stages. The results summarise the digitalisation score of the sample of 350 companies representing various service sector, and present the overview of innovating digitally practices in reference to general engagement in innovation process. The conclusions are drawn in regards to type and scope of digital tools used to facilitate respective activities included in the innovation management.
The study aims to understand the enablers and barriers of circular economy (CE) adoption along with the impact of CE actions on sustainable performance in the context of Australian small and medium ...enterprises (SMEs). Based on the analysis of primary data from 352 SMEs in Australia, the questionnaire survey-based study revealed a lack of clearly defined business processes to be the major impediment towards CE adoption. Analysis also showed environmental performance having a significant positive relationship with design, process, and recovery. Surprisingly, the research showed that the benefits associated with careful energy and resource management does not seem to be important to Australian SMEs. This is in direct contrast to the growing level of interest amongst Australian SMEs towards conservation of water resources and emission reductions. The findings of this research may drive SMEs to focus on CE adoption, as the results suggest that it is positively related to sustainable performance.
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By underlining the relevance of the use of ICTs, knowledge sharing and electronic markets for SMEs, it emerges the need for stimulating a debate on digitisation process of supply chain management ...(SCM). Electronic infrastructure in the service sector are reducing each kind of cost and improving multiply buyer-supplier relationships, facilitating negotiations and transactions. However, since the coordination costs are still high, the use of ICTs is limited. This phenomenon thus attracts the interests of scholars and practitioners. Although it still needs to further investigate. Especially, the optimal use of ICTs within SMEs' SCM have not been studied yet. Therefore, by leveraging on four proxies: ICTs specialised human resources, knowledge sharing activities, buyer-supplier relationships, adoption of electronic markets this optimal was analysed via structural equation modelling based on a sample of 1254 SMEs operating in the service sector in Italy.
As the circular economy (CE) concept gains growing popularity among consumers and producers, small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) increasingly look for ways to reorganize their offering and ...operations to integrate into the CE. This study examines the impact of (a) circular eco‐innovations and (b) external funding available for CE activities on the growth of European SMEs using a data set of 5,100 SMEs across 28 European countries in 2016. Findings reveal that a significant threshold investment (i.e., higher than 10% of revenues) into circular eco‐innovations is required for SMEs to benefit from investing into the CE. Moreover, the majority of circular eco‐innovations fail to boost the growth rates of SMEs, with the exception of investments into eco‐design innovations. Although traditional forms of debt and grant finance targeted to CE activities are found to have no or negative impact on the growth of SMEs, equity finance (i.e., angel and venture capital investments) contributes positively to their growth. The study offers insights into the lower levels of SME engagement in the CE as well as policy implications for improving engagement.
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