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This thesis explores the potential impact of the Internet and international
entrepreneurship on the export performance of UK based Small and Medium Sized
Enterprises (SMEs) operating in the following sectors: food and beverages, textiles,
clothing and fur, biotechnology and instrumentation, and computers and office
machinery.
The findings reveal that, in general, UK based SMEs are moderately committed to
Internet technologies and that their owner/managers are innovative, moderately
proactive and risk takers. The findings also show that the export performance of
SMEs is influenced by a mix of entrepreneurs characteristics (i.e. perceptions of
growth, profits and costs of exporting, level of education, work responsibility, work
experience and proactivity) and the level of Internet commitment of the firm (i.e.
email and Intranet, interconnectivity, Internet information, perceived external
Internet benefits and promotion on the Web). These antecedents reflect the current
environment where globalisation and advances in information and communication
technology (ICT) put pressure on SMEs and give them hope to participate more
effectively in international markets. Also, this result gives support to the Resource
Based View (RBV) and indicates that UK based SMEs export performance is highly
attributed to the resources and competencies at the owner/managers level (i.e.
owner/managers social psychological characteristics and entrepreneurial orientation
behaviour) and at the level of the firm (i.e. level of Internet commitment). Moreover,
the results give some support to the incremental internationalisation process, where
almost half of the firms are following the conventional models of internationalisation
and export to the psychically close country, namely the USA. Also, the findings
support the 'born global' phenomenon where half the firms investigated have started
internationalising either from, or shortly after, inception.
Four categories of UK based SMEs were identified, and recommendations made
according to the firm level of Internet use (high versus low) and owner/managers
entrepreneurial orientation behaviour (high versus low). Implications for policy
makers evolved around targeting different SMEs with different export promotion assistance schemes and international business education programmes, raising
awareness about the global scope of Internet e-commerce in helping SMEs enter and
succeed in export markets, and fostering networking among firms interested in
international markets.
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