Trade Shows and SME Internationalisation: Networking for Performance
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Trade Shows and SME Internationalisation: Networking for Performance Stephan Gerschewski1 · Natasha Evers2 · Anh Tuan Nguyen3,4 · Fabian Jintae Froese5 Received: 29 January 2019 / Revised: 29 January 2020 / Accepted: 8 February 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Trade shows are a key vehicle where SMEs often develop networks, through which valuable resources for internationalisation can be acquired. However, there tends to be a scarcity of research on the performance outcomes of network development of international SMEs (ISMEs), particularly, in trade show forums. Adopting a network-based view, we investigate the influence of trade shows on the performance of ISMEs. Results from a survey of 229 Australian and New Zealand SMEs indicate that proactiveness is positively associated with the development of networks through trade shows, which, in turn, increases the firms’ operational performance, but not financial performance. In addition, the effect of trade shows is generally more beneficial for ISMEs in the service industry, compared to other industries. Keywords Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) · Network · Trade show · Internationalisation · Firm performance
1 Introduction The study of small firm internationalisation has captured increased attention in the literature since the 1990s. This has been evident by the substantial growth of studies, accruing to a large body of knowledge regarding internationalisation processes of international, small and medium-sized enterprises (ISMEs) (Ryan et al. 2019). Due to a lack of resources and the small size of ISMEs, a key * Fabian Jintae Froese ffroese@uni‑goettingen.de 1
University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
2
Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
3
University of Goettingen, Göttingen, Germany
4
VNU University of Economics and Business, Hanoi, Vietnam
5
University of Goettingen, Göttingen, Germany
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rationale is that the dynamics of their firms’ internationalisation processes often differ considerably from large multinational enterprises (MNEs) (Cho and Lee 2018; Ojala et al. 2018). One such difference relates to their companies’ higher dependency on and usage of their business and social networks for their firms’ international development and growth (Jeong et al. 2017). Studies on the entrepreneurs’ personal social and business networks in small firm internationalisation have recently become more numerous and popular, especially in academia (e.g., Crick and Spence 2005). Prior research has indicated that the international growth and expansion of SMEs have relied on their dependency to leverage the needed foreign market knowledge and resources through their respective network relationships (e.g., Jeong et al. 2017; Ryan et al. 2019). Johanson and Vahlne (2009) expanded the orginal Uppsala model of internationalisation by including the role of business networks where the internationalising company is interdependent with and integrated in wider foreign business networks. Inter-organisational networks can supp
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