IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ids/ijesbu/v19y2013i4p517-542.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploring management and entrepreneurial factors in the internationalisation of SMEs: evidence from the Bangladeshi apparel industry

Author

Listed:
  • Mohammad Bakhtiar Rana
  • Olav Jull Sørensen

Abstract

The study aims to explore the internal management and entrepreneurial factors that affect the internationalisation process of ready-made-garment (RMG) SMEs in Bangladesh. The study collects information from 46 apparel SMEs located in Chittagong, Bangladesh, and is followed by a pilot survey. Results reveal that entrepreneurs' management capability, foreign language skill, and e-commerce orientation play an instrumental role in the internationalisation process. In addition to common institutional impediments, the study finds entrepreneurial and managerial capabilities that make a difference in the internationalisation of apparel SMEs. Since the nature of the apparel business is buyer driven, establishing and maintaining a 'network' and 'learning' are the most important aspects for internationalisation process, which are dependent on the entrepreneur's management capability, foreign language skill and the extent to which e-commerce is adopted in the firm. In studying these buyer-driven firms, i.e., RMGs, researchers not only should consider the traditional theories of internationalisation, but take into account the perspectives of both lead firms and supplier firms within the global value chain in which both interact and conduct their operations.

Suggested Citation

  • Mohammad Bakhtiar Rana & Olav Jull Sørensen, 2013. "Exploring management and entrepreneurial factors in the internationalisation of SMEs: evidence from the Bangladeshi apparel industry," International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 19(4), pages 517-542.
    • Handle: RePEc:ids:ijesbu:v:19:y:2013:i:4:p:517-542
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=55490
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Farhad Uddin Ahmed & Louis Brennan, 2019. "Performance determinants of early internationalizing firms: The role of international entrepreneurial orientation," Journal of International Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 389-424, September.
    2. Emran, Sheikh Jafar & Azad, Abul Kalam, 2017. "Too Small to Export: Firm Characteristics for Export Market Participation in Manufacturing Sector," MPRA Paper 93902, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Apr 2018.
    3. Mahmudul Hasan Fouji & Imranul Hoque, 2021. "Supplier Internationalization Through Upgrading in Global Supply Chain: Evidence from the Garments Industry of Bangladesh," International Journal of Global Business and Competitiveness, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 116-129, December.
    4. Farhad Uddin Ahmed & Louis Brennan, 2019. "The impact of Founder’s human capital on firms’ extent of early internationalisation: Evidence from a least-developed country," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 36(3), pages 615-659, September.
    5. Imranul Hoque & Mohammad B. Rana, 2020. "Buyer–supplier relationships from the perspective of working environment and organisational performance: review and research agenda," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 70(1), pages 1-50, February.

    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:ids:ijesbu:v:19:y:2013:i:4:p:517-542. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Sarah Parker (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.inderscience.com/browse/index.php?journalID=74 .

    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.