TY - JOUR
T1 - Understanding small business international strategic change
T2 - The influence of internal resource capacity -evidence from a developing country
AU - Damoah, Obi B.O.
AU - Hall, Graham
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - With the advent of globalisation, it could be argued that internationalisation is a necessity for the proportion of SMEs in sub-Saharan Africa. Most governments in sub-Saharan Africa have embraced this phenomenon. Currently, there are a number of on-going programmes designed by governments, international organisations and local associations to attract as many small businesses in sub-Saharan Africa to engage in the export business as possible because of the macro and micro benefits that is derived from the event. Yet, export involvement by small firms from this region of the world continues to be low, but it is argued that for SMEs, regardless of the amount of the macro programmes offered to them, their actual export success resides within the firm capacity. As a result, this study uses empirical data from Ghana, and employs logistic regression to predict the type of SME which will successfully change its strategy from being a wholly domestic business and becoming an international business firm, given a set of resource stocks. Based on the logit model, it is found that small firms with educated workforce, those with foreign ownership and those that possess large size will be more likely to change their strategy from being a wholly domestic business to an international business firms. Implications for future research, public policy and practice, based on the findings of the study are suggested.
AB - With the advent of globalisation, it could be argued that internationalisation is a necessity for the proportion of SMEs in sub-Saharan Africa. Most governments in sub-Saharan Africa have embraced this phenomenon. Currently, there are a number of on-going programmes designed by governments, international organisations and local associations to attract as many small businesses in sub-Saharan Africa to engage in the export business as possible because of the macro and micro benefits that is derived from the event. Yet, export involvement by small firms from this region of the world continues to be low, but it is argued that for SMEs, regardless of the amount of the macro programmes offered to them, their actual export success resides within the firm capacity. As a result, this study uses empirical data from Ghana, and employs logistic regression to predict the type of SME which will successfully change its strategy from being a wholly domestic business and becoming an international business firm, given a set of resource stocks. Based on the logit model, it is found that small firms with educated workforce, those with foreign ownership and those that possess large size will be more likely to change their strategy from being a wholly domestic business to an international business firms. Implications for future research, public policy and practice, based on the findings of the study are suggested.
KW - Export
KW - Ghana
KW - International strategic change
KW - Sub-saharan africa
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=78650831126&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.18848/1447-9524/CGP/v10i06/50001
DO - 10.18848/1447-9524/CGP/v10i06/50001
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:78650831126
SN - 1447-9524
VL - 10
SP - 97
EP - 116
JO - International Journal of Knowledge, Culture and Change Management
JF - International Journal of Knowledge, Culture and Change Management
IS - 6
ER -