INTERNATIONAL MARKET SELECTION PROCESS ADOPTED BY SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES: Case Studies From Two Italian Companies
Ducati, Luca (2015)
Kuvaus
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Tiivistelmä
International market selections are crucial decisions for resource constrained SMEs, and the process leading to the selection is shown to have an influence on the outcome of the decision. Understanding the process adopted by the SMEs, steps and methods adopted, and the factors bringing to their adoption may bring benefit to the manager of small business through more fitted prescriptions and recommendations and may better address Governments’ policies to promote SMEs export.
The rationality model, bounded rationality model, power and politics model and garbage can model were individuated as best theories explaining the drivers of decision inside organizations. While the contingency model was used to explain how SMEs could turn toward different driver of decision, given their unique characteristics.
The international market selection was explained and associated with a decision-making process model composed by 3 steps and 4 methods leading to decision, which was drafted on the basis of previous literature on the topic. The main theoretical bases for the model came from Mintzberg, Raisinghani & Théoret (1976) and Jocumsen (2002).
The empirical analysis of the study was qualitative with case studies coming from two Italian SMEs. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews done to the decision-makers of the companies about the selection of 2 markets each. The collected data were analysed through the confrontation with the theoretical framework, jointly with the cross of the answers among the answers and with the collected secondary data.
The results have shown how the IMS process is highly unstructured and based on informal methods of information gathering and analysis, in which network and manager’s intuition play a central role. Even though SMEs limited resources influences the adopted process, greater influence on the adoption is exercised by managers’ knowledge, ability and behaviour. The introduction of higher education inside the process is expected to increase its rationality.
The rationality model, bounded rationality model, power and politics model and garbage can model were individuated as best theories explaining the drivers of decision inside organizations. While the contingency model was used to explain how SMEs could turn toward different driver of decision, given their unique characteristics.
The international market selection was explained and associated with a decision-making process model composed by 3 steps and 4 methods leading to decision, which was drafted on the basis of previous literature on the topic. The main theoretical bases for the model came from Mintzberg, Raisinghani & Théoret (1976) and Jocumsen (2002).
The empirical analysis of the study was qualitative with case studies coming from two Italian SMEs. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews done to the decision-makers of the companies about the selection of 2 markets each. The collected data were analysed through the confrontation with the theoretical framework, jointly with the cross of the answers among the answers and with the collected secondary data.
The results have shown how the IMS process is highly unstructured and based on informal methods of information gathering and analysis, in which network and manager’s intuition play a central role. Even though SMEs limited resources influences the adopted process, greater influence on the adoption is exercised by managers’ knowledge, ability and behaviour. The introduction of higher education inside the process is expected to increase its rationality.