中小企业国际化.docx

1、中小企业国际化Thinking of small and medium-sized enterprises to develop international marketLei Li;Dan Li;Tevfik Dalgic. Internationalization process of small and medium-sized enterprises: toward a hybrid model of experiential learning and planningJ Management International Review.2004,(44)The literature s

2、hows that there are three broad theoretical perspectives regarding the internationalization process of firms: (1) Experiential learning (2) Systematic planning, and (3) Contingency perspective. Despite their important contributions, these perspectives have not led to a coherent framework that may he

3、lp both scholars and practitioners to gain a convergent understanding of the internationalization process of firms. (1) This paper seeks to develop a hybrid model of internationalization process which reconciles different theoretical perspectives, and bears normative implications for managers. In ou

4、r opinion, the establishment of such a model would be particularly helpful for examining the internationalization process of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) which have played an increasingly important role in the international arena. (2) There are three major reasons. First, SMEs usually h

5、ave limited resources to allocate for information and knowledge acquisition pertaining to foreign markets. They cannot afford to undertake a thorough systematic planning process as big firms. Second, SMEs are internationally inexperienced compared to large multinational enterprises (MNEs). They face

6、 the problem of unknown unknowns. Third, todays SMEs initiate their international expansion in a global environment which is substantially different than the one faced by traditional MNEs two or three decades ago. They often have to respond to international market opportunities in a very timely mann

7、er.In general, the systematic planning models seem to be extremely rational. First, the central assumption of these models is the viability of thorough and efficient market information collection and analyses. However, considering the recent trend of quickened and early internationalization of SMEs

8、in the presence of evading market opportunities and turbulent business environments (UNCTAD 1993, OECD 1997), the value of lengthy planning is increasingly questionable.Second, from the behavioral perspective of corporate decision-making, many decisions may be made simultaneously rather than sequent

9、ially. Therefore, some of the proposed sequential stages may not be distinguishable in certain contexts. Third, a firms internationalization process may be significantly affected by its motivations and initial competencies.The systematic planning school is too rational to incorporate the need for ex

10、periential learning. However, it is clearly complementary to the latter. Our fundamental point is that experiential learning and systematic planning are two separate but semi-sequentially interrelated components in the internationalization process of firms. Neglect of either would be misleading theo

11、retically and harmful in practice. DiscussionsThis study shows that each of the received perspectives on firms internationalization processes, if it stands alone, has a far more limited utility to practitioners as well as researchers. We present a hybrid model that not only integrates experiential l

12、earning and systematic planning, but also incorporates the more recent contingency perspective. Such a model is intended to help both researchers and practitioners in reviewing and analyzing internationalization process strategies of firms from a holistic perspective. It should be noted that althoug

13、h our model shares a central contention with the contingency perspective, it differs in some important aspects. First, we emphasize that an integration of experiential learning and systematic planning can provide a more balanced view of the internationalization process. It is not that they are wrong

14、; they each only tell a partial truth. Combined together in a semi-sequential manner, they can have a much stronger explanatory power. Second, although we agree that firms internationalization processes are essentially path dependent and highly unpredictable, we contend that a model or framework can

15、 be generated to capture the variety of seemingly chaotic and non-rational patterns. Third, we suggest that such a model bears not only descriptive but also strong normative implications. .Our model may be of particular relevance to SMEs. First, most large MNEs have already passed the early stage of

16、 internationalization. Their focus has shifted to the tasks such as increasing host country market shares, reconfiguring value-added processes, improving efficiency, and enhancing global intra-firm learning rather than foreign market entries. Thus, our model may not be as essential to large MNEs as

17、to SMEs. Second, even when large MNEs need to enter new foreign markets, they usually have the capacities, routines and international experience to go through a systematic planning process. This process is often costly and time-consuming but could be worthwhile considering the typically large size o

18、f their foreign investments. In contrast, SMEs need to be focused and flexible given their relative paucity of resources (e.g., management time, Planning staff, money, etc.) and international experience. At times, a SME would benefit from undertaking a systematic planning process if it has a clear e

19、dge in technology and product quality, and has discretion to pick an appropriate foreign market to start its international campaign. Other times, a SME may only need to focus on a critical step in the planning process such as the negotiation and evaluation of entry mode. if, for example, it must fol

20、low a key customer abroad to retain the business. On occasions, it would be wise for a SME to muddle through with incremental steps without a visible planning phase if, for example, the firm is involved in a volatile and uncertain industry, and has to take actions to gain valuable industry and marke

21、t-specific information, and explore its strategic options. In short, our model tends to appeal to SMEs better because it caters to a wide range of internationalization processes. Our model bears some specific normative implications for SME managers.(1) Our hybrid model may serve as a roadmap for SME

22、s. Although systematic planning is often not practical for SMEs, ad-hoc actions are not desirable for them either. SME managers may use our model to prepare for their intended internationalization process strategies. They should first examine their motivations and existing competence base carefully.

23、 Then, they need to identify and focus on the critical steps in the internationalization process and deploy their limited resources accordingly. For example, an industrial supplier following its major customer abroad may want to specifically study the suppliers market in the host country and the fea

24、sibility of forming a joint venture with its customer as Japanese companies have practiced. (2) SMEs international expansion is often triggered by external ad-hoc signals such as the activities of customers, suppliers, or partners. Moreover, SMEs are not much fettered by bureaucracy and hierarchical

25、 thinking. Top managers personal initiatives can often drive internationalization at an accelerated pace, especially for innovation-oriented SMEs. Compared to experiential learning and systematic planning models, our hybrid model is relatively flexible in the sense that the process is neither predet

26、ermined nor linearly sequential. Thus, it may assist SME managers in weighing on emergent internationalization processes and/or making sense out of competitors internationalization strategies. (3) Our model shows that a firms internationalization process is iterative. Each phase (e.g., antecedents)

27、receives periodic feedbacks from its subsequent phases (e.g., planning and execution). SME managers face different options and constraints from one iterative process to another. Our model has a potential to help SME managers to identify sensible paths in each iterative process to avoid serious blund

28、ers or wasted efforts. Our model also bears a few implications for future research. First, it may serve as a platform based on which researchers can conceive and build more sophisticated internationalization process models. For example, we have only specified two antecedents of internationalization:

29、 Motivation and corporate competence. There is plenty of room for informed scholars to define and develop the antecedent phase more systematically. Moreover, our model leaves out environmental factors such as industrial characteristics and home/host country effects that can be salient for SMEs. It w

30、ould be interesting to see how the business environment may be explicitly incorporated into our hybrid model. Second, scholars may identify many specific empirical research issues from our model. For example, one may examine how the disparity of motivations and corporate competencies may lead to div

31、ergent internationalization processes for SMEs. Although motivation and competence have been addressed extensively in foreign direct investment (FDI) literature , they are much more often referred to in connection with FDI direction, location, and entry mode than with internationalization processes.

32、 One may raise specifically such unanswered questions: (1) Given a certain motivation (e.g., market seeking, customer following, or technology/resources acquiring), how might a SMEs competence level affect its choice between experiential learning and systematic planning as well as its degree of comm

33、itment in the execution phase? (2) Given a certain level of competence, how would SMEs with various motivations select different internationalization processes? Third, as noted earlier, todays SMEs face a global business environment vastly different from the one in which traditional MNEs were initially involved. Yet, we know little specifics re