IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bbn/journl/2009_4_1_hampton.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

CHALLENGES FACING UK SMEs IN INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Author

Listed:
  • ANNE HAMPTON

    (Business School, University of Buckingham, Hunter Street, Buckingham, UK)

  • JAMES ROWELL

    (Business School, University of Buckingham, Hunter Street, Buckingham, UK)

Abstract

In the UK, Small to Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) are encouraged to develop overseas business for a variety of reasons, such as sourcing of products and components, seeking new markets and developing international partnerships. Although the UK government, industry leaders and professional bodies encourage international growth, SMEs themselves also recognise the need and benefits of trading in international markets. One of the major challenges facing SMEs, and particularly owner-managed business, is how to formulate their approach to international markets. This paper aims to establish key issues UK SMEs are facing in the process of trading internationally. The paper is based on qualitative research exploring the concept of ‘global mindsets’ and the extent to which this approach is applied in SMEs operating internationally. The research views the concept of a global mindset from a wide perspective and includes: awareness of global issues; knowledge about other countries and cultures; development of competencies and aptitudes needed for working in and operating a business in a global context; and SME responses to cultural perspectives (as managers, employees and customers). The level of awareness of needing deep local knowledge and cultural sensitivity in building good relationships with suppliers, distributors and customers is also discussed. The ‘soft skills’ that MNEs either recruit or develop amongst their international managers, are not readily available to SMEs. SMEs must therefore develop their own understanding of the skills required in order to build their organization’s capability. This research focuses on identifying the decisions and actions needed for SME international business development, including the resource implications and timescales needed to develop markets and build relationships.

Suggested Citation

  • Anne Hampton & James Rowell, 2009. "CHALLENGES FACING UK SMEs IN INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT," JOURNAL STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABES-BOLYAI NEGOTIA, Babes-Bolyai University, Faculty of Business.
    • Handle: RePEc:bbn:journl:2009_4_1_hampton
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://tbs.ubbcluj.ro/RePEc/bbn/journl/2009_4_1_Hampton.pdf
    File Function: Revised version, 2009
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mika Gabrielsson & V H Manek Kirpalani & Pavlos Dimitratos & Carl Arthur Solberg & Antonella Zucchella, 2008. "Conceptualizations to Advance Born Global Definition," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 9(1), pages 45-50, June.
    2. Gianni Lorenzoni & Andrea Lipparini, 1999. "The leveraging of interfirm relationships as a distinctive organizational capability: a longitudinal study," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(4), pages 317-338, April.
    3. Majocchi Antonio & Zucchella Antonella, 2001. "Internationalization and Performance: findings from a set of Italian SMEs," Economics and Quantitative Methods qf0110, Department of Economics, University of Insubria.
    4. Stephen Roper, 1997. "Strategic initiatives and small business performance: an exploratory analysis of Irish companies," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(4), pages 353-364, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Elena-Mãdãlina VÃTÃMÃNESCU & Florina-Magdalena PÎNZARU & Andreia-Gabriela ANDREI & Vlad-Andrei ALEXANDRU, 2014. "Going international versus going global. The Case of the European Steel Pipe SMES," REVISTA DE MANAGEMENT COMPARAT INTERNATIONAL/REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL COMPARATIVE MANAGEMENT, Faculty of Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 15(3), pages 360-379, July.
    2. Alfredo D’Angelo, 2012. "Innovation and export performance: a study of Italian high-tech SMEs," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 16(3), pages 393-423, August.
    3. Anne HAMPTON & James ROWELL, 2013. "An Evolution in Research Practice for Investigating International Business Relationships," Management Dynamics in the Knowledge Economy, College of Management, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, vol. 1(2), pages 161-177, August.
    4. Michele O’Dwyer & Raffaele Filieri & Lisa O’Malley, 2023. "Establishing successful university–industry collaborations: barriers and enablers deconstructed," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(3), pages 900-931, June.
    5. Kazadi, Kande & Lievens, Annouk & Mahr, Dominik, 2016. "Stakeholder co-creation during the innovation process: Identifying capabilities for knowledge creation among multiple stakeholders," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 525-540.
    6. Frederik M. Metzger & Stefan Berwing & Thomas Armbrüster & Achim Oberg, 2012. "Koordinationsmechanismen und Innovativität von Netzwerken: eine empirische Analyse," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 64(4), pages 428-455, June.
    7. Matanda, Margaret Jekanyika & Freeman, Susan, 2009. "Effect of perceived environmental uncertainty on exporter-importer inter-organisational relationships and export performance improvement," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 89-107, February.
    8. Laamanen, Tomi, 2005. "Dependency, resource depth, and supplier performance during industry downturn," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 125-140, March.
    9. Wang, Chengqi & Hong, Junjie & Kafouros, Mario & Boateng, Agyenim, 2012. "What drives outward FDI of Chinese firms? Testing the explanatory power of three theoretical frameworks," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 425-438.
    10. Peng, George Z. & Beamish, Paul W., 2019. "Subnational FDI Legitimacy and Foreign Subsidiary Survival," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 1-1.
    11. Chen, Liang-Chih, 2015. "Building extra-regional networks for regional innovation systems: Taiwan's machine tool industry in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 107-117.
    12. Trinh, Long Q., 2016. "Dynamics of Innovation and Internationalization among Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Viet Nam," ADBI Working Papers 580, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    13. A. Lasagni, 2011. "European SMEs, external relationships and innovation: some empirical evidence," Economics Department Working Papers 2011-EP04, Department of Economics, Parma University (Italy).
    14. Pattanayak, Sirsha & Ramkumar, M. & Goswami, Mohit & Rana, Nripendra P., 2024. "Blockchain technology and supply chain performance: The role of trust and relational capabilities," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 271(C).
    15. Elitsa R. Banalieva & Ravi Sarathy, 2011. "A Contingency Theory of Internationalization," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 51(5), pages 593-634, October.
    16. Noorderhaven, N.G. & Koen, C.I. & Beugelsdijk, S., 2002. "Organizational Culture and Network Embeddedness," Discussion Paper 2002-91, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    17. Ford, David & Mouzas, Stefanos, 2008. "Is there any hope? The idea of strategy in business networks," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 64-78.
    18. Karbowski, Adam, 2009. "Sieci społeczne i technologiczne: wpływ na proces powstawania innowacji w gospodarce [Social and Technological Networks and its Effects on Innovation Dynamics]," MPRA Paper 73624, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Dominguez, Noémie & Mayrhofer, Ulrike, 2017. "Internationalization stages of traditional SMEs: Increasing, decreasing and re-increasing commitment to foreign markets," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(6), pages 1051-1063.
    20. Jose-Luis Hervas-Oliver, 2012. "Are technological gatekeepers constraining my cluster? Unfolding the paradox of gatekeepers resilience across cluster life cycle stages," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1206, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised May 2012.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    SME; International Capabilities; Global Mindset; International Business;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M16 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - International Business Administration

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bbn:journl:2009_4_1_hampton. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Cornelia Pop (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fbubbro.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.