Internationalisation is the expansion of a firms operations to foreign markets and includes not only import and export but also foreign direct investments and international cooperation. Today’s globalising economy has resulted in a growing number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) undertaking international activities. Internationalisation has been shown to be very beneficial for firms. Cross-border activities are an important means through which SMEs are able to create value, generate growth and access new knowledge and technologies. A strong relation has also been found between innovation and internationalisation: innovation may both be necessary to enter foreign markets as well as be a consequence of a firm’s foreign market activities. In addition to value creation at the firmlevel, crossborder entrepreneurship is assumed to create wealth at an economy wide level. With so many evident benefits to internationalisation, why don’t more SMEs internationalise? In her inaugural lecture Anne van Delft will illustrate the importance of “cooperation within networks” in international business. In today’s “network economy” it is important for firms to leverage their networks. Managing the interplay between networks and knowledge will be one of the key challenges for the 21st century. Cooperation with other firms is especially important for SMEs because it allows firms to utilise their limited resources in the most efficient way. Some of the sectors in the Rotterdam region are world leaders but nevertheless their main competitor might soon come from an emerging market rather than form within the regional cluster. The benefits of cooperation and knowledge sharing should therefore be exploited fully by SMEs in the Rotterdam region as global competition increases.
LINK
Full text via link One of the most important drivers of change in the health care sector is the desire of elderly people to age in place. The growing use of internet applications and communication technology together with innovations in buildings have created new commercial opportunities to cater the demands of elderly to grow old in their home environment. Many of these opportunities are facilitated by institutional changes like deregulation and privatization, and benefit from globalization, for example trough stronger incentives for innovation and domestic implementation of ideas that arise in foreign markets
LINK
Full text via link. This research project investigates the connection between internationalisation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and innovation in de context of the Utrecht region in the Netherlands. The study makes use of unique data accomplished of with the help of Syntens, the regional agency of the Ministry of Economic Affairs that aims to support the SME innovation. The research group International Business and Innovation was asked to evaluate the effectiveness of consultancy with respect to internationalisation. To this end 173 firms returned a questionnaire on their internationalisation success, innovation and the role of public consulting and subsidies. This dataset allows us to analyse the connection between internationalisation and innovation of Dutch SMEs in great detail.
LINK
