The recognition of international opportunities among Italian SMEs: differences between European and Chinese markets
by Mariella Piantoni; Gianpaolo Baronchelli; Elena Cortesi
International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business (IJESB), Vol. 17, No. 2, 2012

Abstract: This paper investigates how opportunities in foreign countries are identified by SMEs. The study aims to address the following research questions: 1) How do previous international knowledge and network of relationships influence SMEs' recognition of opportunities in international markets? 2) Are there differences in the approach about opportunity recognition towards psychic distant countries compared to close ones? The methodology is based on a multiple case study of Italian SMEs operating in the manufacturing industry. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews to companies' entrepreneurs. The findings suggest that while in close markets the lack of an extensive prior knowledge and experience leads to passive networking and unexpected discovery of business opportunities rather than a purposeful search for them, within psychic distant countries, the pattern of opportunity recognition differs and does not appear to be influenced by the stock of information and resources already possessed. Even though these results cannot be generalised, the study identifies a possible model of the opportunity recognition process, in which the different roles played by prior knowledge and the networks combined with psychic distance are stressed.

Online publication date: Sat, 16-Aug-2014

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business (IJESB):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com