Internationalisation process of Chinese SMEs: the role of business and ethnic-group-based social networks Online publication date: Fri, 23-Dec-2016
by Yong Kyu Lew; Zaheer Khan; Rekha Rao-Nicholson; Shaowei He
International Journal of Multinational Corporation Strategy (IJMCS), Vol. 1, No. 3/4, 2016
Abstract: This article examines how emerging market small and medium-sized enterprises (EM-SMEs) leverage business and social networks for their internationalisation. Drawing from the internationalisation process and network literature, it investigates four Chinese SMEs which have effectively entered foreign markets. The sample of Chinese manufacturing SMEs provides a valuable reference for foreign-network constrained EM-SMEs that face challenges and opportunities in their internationalisation process. The findings suggest that both business and ethnic group-based social networks as well as the strength of these networks play an important role in influencing the internationalisation of Chinese SMEs. Particularly, the findings illustrate the importance and complementary role of ethnic ties (i.e., social networks), and relationships with foreign multinationals (i.e., business networks) that enable the internationalisation process of the EM-SMEs.
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.
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 Multinational Corporation Strategy (IJMCS):
Login with your Inderscience username and 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
Our Blog 
Follow us on Twitter 
Visit us on Facebook