Internationalisation Strategies for Sme's
Internationalisation Strategies for Small Businesses
Table of Contents Introduction 3 Chapter 1 4 Factors that influence internationalisation 4 Internal 4 External 5 Chapter 2 6 Strategies of internationalisation 6 Exporting 6 Licensing 6 Franchising 7 Contract Manufacturing 7 Chapter 3 9 Maintaining Internationalisation 9 Innovative improvements 9 Monitoring internationalised operations 9 Conclusion 11 References 12 Bibliography 13
Introduction
A small business is a firm which is small in terms of employees and sales volume, although this is not always the case. A small business in the UK employ between 10-50 people, anything under or over this number makes the classification become void. Globally, small businesses range from a maximum of 15 people under Australian law, to a maximum of 500 people under US law (White, 2011). Small businesses are an ever growing aspect of modern society. They are pivotal in economies worldwide as they employ vast quantities of people and often make up the majority of GDP in some countries. There are just over 4.5 million small businesses in the UK which account for 58.8 per cent of all private sector employment and 48.8 per cent of all private sector turnovers. These figures are vast and thus show how essential small businesses are to the UK economy and the country as a whole.
Internationalisation is the shifting of any business operations across international borders. This can be in the form of exports, production, contract manufacturing or even the access of information. Internationalisation is usually a strategy adopted by ready established large businesses although the internationalisation of small businesses is becoming more popular in recent times. In the UK today small businesses are being financially subsidised by the government due to the high levels of employment within this sector. Therefore due to the high number of people employed under the private sector, the
Table of Contents Introduction 3 Chapter 1 4 Factors that influence internationalisation 4 Internal 4 External 5 Chapter 2 6 Strategies of internationalisation 6 Exporting 6 Licensing 6 Franchising 7 Contract Manufacturing 7 Chapter 3 9 Maintaining Internationalisation 9 Innovative improvements 9 Monitoring internationalised operations 9 Conclusion 11 References 12 Bibliography 13
Introduction
A small business is a firm which is small in terms of employees and sales volume, although this is not always the case. A small business in the UK employ between 10-50 people, anything under or over this number makes the classification become void. Globally, small businesses range from a maximum of 15 people under Australian law, to a maximum of 500 people under US law (White, 2011). Small businesses are an ever growing aspect of modern society. They are pivotal in economies worldwide as they employ vast quantities of people and often make up the majority of GDP in some countries. There are just over 4.5 million small businesses in the UK which account for 58.8 per cent of all private sector employment and 48.8 per cent of all private sector turnovers. These figures are vast and thus show how essential small businesses are to the UK economy and the country as a whole.
Internationalisation is the shifting of any business operations across international borders. This can be in the form of exports, production, contract manufacturing or even the access of information. Internationalisation is usually a strategy adopted by ready established large businesses although the internationalisation of small businesses is becoming more popular in recent times. In the UK today small businesses are being financially subsidised by the government due to the high levels of employment within this sector. Therefore due to the high number of people employed under the private sector, the
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