How do SMEs use support services during their internationalisation process: A comparative study of French traditional SMEs and INVs in Asia

Abstract

This article integrates research on the internationalisation processes of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and export assistance services to investigate how such firms use support services drawing upon a large, qualitative study of 32 French traditional SMEs and international new ventures (INVs) that have entered Asia. Our key contribution is to consider the time to internationalisation (gradual or rapid) and the stage of internationalisation (entrance or intensification) rather than export intensity alone, and to examine how support services can help SMEs internationalise. The identification of different configurations of uses leads to the development of theoretical propositions that extend existing models pertaining to support services and firm internationalisation. These findings have several important managerial implications for support services to target their offer more precisely to two types of SMEs; they also provide useful guidance for SMEs to determine which tailor-made offerings from private and public actors are most applicable to their internationalisation efforts.

Export promotion programs, export capabilities, and risk management practices of internationalized SMEs

“…Since relatively few SMEs have the ability to maintain international operations sustainably over time, particularly in distant markets, there is a great concern for policymakers to stimulate their international expansion. Even if public and private support for the internationalisation of SMEs has increased significantly in France over the past 20 years, it is reasonable to doubt the effectiveness of these policies (Belhoste et al, 2019). Our empirical results confirm that public policies could provide some strategic capabilities, as risk management is considered in the current economic and competitive context.…”

“…The challenge for today's governments is the development of appropriate measures aimed at reducing market failures, uncertainty, and risks, and at helping these firms to acquire and/or develop the resources needed for their internationalization. SMEs are critical to the competitiveness of advanced, industrialised countries, and their growth is driven by many factors among which internationalization plays a significant role (Love and Roper, 2015;Belhoste et al, 2019). Since relatively few SMEs have the ability to maintain international operations sustainably over time, particularly in distant markets, there is a great concern for policymakers to stimulate their international expansion.…”

“…Although we only focused on the items related to risk management practices, we adapted them to the international context, and we got very good fiability and reliability, we could expect that a scale measurement specifically design for international risk management in SMEs could provide more accurate results. Further, in line with Belhoste et al (2019), it could also be interesting to consider in our model the stage of internationalization of the firm (entrance or intensification) to see the extent to which EPPs, risk management practices and export capabilities play a different role according to the different stages. Future studies should also address the moderating role of the dynamic capabilities of the firm, i.e.…”

“…In the today globalized environment, small and medium enterprises SMEs play a pivotal role in the development of a country, its employment growth, its innovation capacity, and its competitiveness on a global scale. It is now well accepted that, as their bigger counterparts, SMEs, whatever their age, can take part of the international opportunities, then strengthening their weight in the national economy and wealth (Belhoste et al, 2019). Internationalization can be seen as an entrepreneurial process (Schweizer et al, 2010) of discovery, enactment, evaluation, and exploitation of opportunities -across national borders -to create future goods and services (Oviatt and McDougall, 2005).…”

“…In the context of financial restrictions on public expenses, the effectiveness of these support programs has become a crucial issue (Leonidou et al, 2011;Bannò et al, 2014;Catanzaro et al, 2018;Belhoste et al, 2019). Consequently, the evaluation of these programs used by SMEs is a major challenge.…”