What Drives Rapid Internationalization – A Case of Malaysian SMEs

Traditionally, internationalization has been assumed to be activity that requires significant amounts of time and resources. Owing to this, firms took time to establish themselves in their domestic markets before they started to expand into overseas markets. However, over the past decade or so numer...

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Main Author: Saqib, Sahabat
Format: Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2008
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/24514/
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author Saqib, Sahabat
author_facet Saqib, Sahabat
author_sort Saqib, Sahabat
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Traditionally, internationalization has been assumed to be activity that requires significant amounts of time and resources. Owing to this, firms took time to establish themselves in their domestic markets before they started to expand into overseas markets. However, over the past decade or so numerous small and medium firms have sprung up, these companies have a global orientation right from their inception. These firms have been termed Born Globals. In light of the aforementioned, this dissertation examines factors influencing the rapidinternationalization of small and medium enterprises in Malaysia in order to comprehend why small and medium enterprises are increasingly international in nature at or soon after their inception. A majority of prior research conducted in the subject of study has been carried out on high-tech companies. Therefore this research included firms from an array of industries in efforts of capturing a more holistic picture of factors that influence the internationalization decision of the firms in relation to speed of internationalization. The study qualitatively identifies leading influential factors amongst five firms, via conducting interviews with key decision makers at the companies in question. Among the drivers of rapid internationalization, firstly the role of the entrepreneur, especially their international experience, executive networks, and a global vision were found significant. Secondly, the study also found the role of network relations with distributors, strategic alliance partners, customers and industrial and trade associations to be essential to rapid internationalization. Lastly, the influence of external environmental factors such as domestic and foreign market conditions and technological advancements was also found to be particularly significant.
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spelling nottingham-245142018-03-17T09:43:30Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/24514/ What Drives Rapid Internationalization – A Case of Malaysian SMEs Saqib, Sahabat Traditionally, internationalization has been assumed to be activity that requires significant amounts of time and resources. Owing to this, firms took time to establish themselves in their domestic markets before they started to expand into overseas markets. However, over the past decade or so numerous small and medium firms have sprung up, these companies have a global orientation right from their inception. These firms have been termed Born Globals. In light of the aforementioned, this dissertation examines factors influencing the rapidinternationalization of small and medium enterprises in Malaysia in order to comprehend why small and medium enterprises are increasingly international in nature at or soon after their inception. A majority of prior research conducted in the subject of study has been carried out on high-tech companies. Therefore this research included firms from an array of industries in efforts of capturing a more holistic picture of factors that influence the internationalization decision of the firms in relation to speed of internationalization. The study qualitatively identifies leading influential factors amongst five firms, via conducting interviews with key decision makers at the companies in question. Among the drivers of rapid internationalization, firstly the role of the entrepreneur, especially their international experience, executive networks, and a global vision were found significant. Secondly, the study also found the role of network relations with distributors, strategic alliance partners, customers and industrial and trade associations to be essential to rapid internationalization. Lastly, the influence of external environmental factors such as domestic and foreign market conditions and technological advancements was also found to be particularly significant. 2008 Dissertation (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/24514/1/sahabatsaqib.pdf Saqib, Sahabat (2008) What Drives Rapid Internationalization – A Case of Malaysian SMEs. [Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)] (Unpublished)
spellingShingle Saqib, Sahabat
What Drives Rapid Internationalization – A Case of Malaysian SMEs
title What Drives Rapid Internationalization – A Case of Malaysian SMEs
title_full What Drives Rapid Internationalization – A Case of Malaysian SMEs
title_fullStr What Drives Rapid Internationalization – A Case of Malaysian SMEs
title_full_unstemmed What Drives Rapid Internationalization – A Case of Malaysian SMEs
title_short What Drives Rapid Internationalization – A Case of Malaysian SMEs
title_sort what drives rapid internationalization – a case of malaysian smes
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/24514/