Track 3: ‘International Business with focus on Entrepreneurship and SMEs’

Track Chairs: Prof. Emin Akcaoglu & Prof. Rainer Wehner, WIBF

Entrepreneurship, innovation and internationalisation are substantially interrelated. In an increasingly competitive world economy these are getting more importance. They are also essential ingredients for growth and job creation in open market economies.
With the beginning of the internet era, entrepreneurship in international scale has become easier. Many start-ups now aim the international market from their inception. In other words, the number of so called "born globals” is increasing very quickly. Therefore, international entrepreneurship has also become a significant concept in the business literature. Currently, many countries and international organisations focus on international entrepreneurship for job creation and economic growth. This is particularly important these days as the effects of the global economic crisis still have been present.
Small companies (or small and medium sized enterprises [SMEs] in general) are entrepreneurial in their nature. SMEs are not always growth oriented individually. Many small business owners do not aim to grow the company size at all. But since the number of SMEs in any economy is overwhelming, they contribute substantially to GNPs and also to employment. Many of these firms are family owned. Corporate governance issues have interesting aspects in family owned-firms. The unification of ownership and management enables the top management to make opportunistic investments by relying on intuition. Therefore, such firms are more flexible in comparison with shareholders-owned and managerially-controlled firms to adapt to changing environments, to enter new markets or, to introduce new products. Perhaps because of this attribute, family firms do tend perform better in adverse economic conditions.
So far, the internationalisation of SMEs and family-owned small firms and also small multinationals have been studied relatively lesser than the potential. Hence, this conference track will be a global platform to generate further discussion regarding these issues. The track aims to attract paper submissions with regard to social and economic outcomes of foreign investments by small multinational enterprises; internationalisation of small firms and international entrepreneurship; how these outcomes are influenced by home countries and international organizations, through legislation, other legal arrangements, policies, and unofficial mechanisms. This conference track also aims to identify the similarities and differences between small multinational enterprises from emerging and developed countries, and to analyse the effects of these on employment, growth and development issues in home and host countries. The track will explore both theoretical issues in the field and practical issues in formulating policy and strategy and it will pay attention to the issue of employment and growth. Some major questions and topics would be:

  • Why and how SMEs internationalize? What are the major motivations and strategies?
  • How new business models can be generated through international entrepreneurship?
  • How a turbulent international environment in terms of economic crisis and political upheaval affects company internationalisation, and international entrepreneurship?
  • FDI by small multinationals and effects of their activities on value creation, employment and growth in home and host countries, particularly in times of crises
  • Lessons to be learned from the successful small multinationals in terms of internationalization and foreign direct investment activities
  • How small multinationals can manage sustainable innovation?
  • Do sustainable innovations contribute to small firm internationalisation and entrepreneurial activities at international level?

Therefore, empirical and conceptual research papers, or work-in-progress papers, or extended abstracts are welcomed.

This track is also for any other papers or extended abstracts that cover OTHER TOPICS in International Business. That is why we also point out this in the title of the track:

‘International Business with focus on Entrepreneurship and SMEs’

Suitable topics include, but are not limited, to the following:

  • International entrepreneurship (IE)
  • Emerging paradigms of IE
  • Internationalization of SMEs
  • IE, business model development and new business models
  • IE in Germany, in the European Union and other European countries
  • IE in Asia, the Middle East and the North Africa, Africa, in Americas etc.
  • Knowledge transfer in IE
  • Women in IE
  • Immigrants and IE
  • IE in developed countries and emerging markets
  • Impact of social relationships in IE
  • Internationalization processes in IE: Networks and patterns of International New Ventures (INV)
  • Inward Internationalization in IE: Supply Chain Management and International Purchasing
  • IE as part of the value creation process
  • De-internationalization and its consequences
  • Methodological issues in IE research
  • Applications of analytical frameworks and measurements that capture the presence, and evolution, of distinctive capabilities in IE
  • Challenges and opportunities for IE
  • Cross-national comparisons of internationally-oriented entrepreneurs
  • Marketing, finance, production, management issues and IE
  • Impact of internationally oriented small firms on regional and national economies
  • Financing SME internationalization
  • SME internationalization, and country risk, and international political risk management
  • FDI by small and medium-sized multinationals and effects of their activities on value creation, employment and growth in both home and host countries
  • SME internationalization and Export Credit Agencies
  • Government export and investment promotion policies and SME internationalization
  • Internationalization pathways of family firms
  • Foreign market entry of family firms
  • Small multinationals
  • Internationalization of SMEs found by immigrants in different countries
  • Diaspora entrepreneurship and internationalisation
  • Foreign entry modes of small firms
  • Export and import activities of SMEs
  • Contract-based foreign entry modes undertaken by SMEs
  • International franchising and SMEs
  • International licensing and SMEs
  • International contract manufacturing and SMEs
  • Inward and outward internationalization of SMEs
  • Networks configurations in the internationalization family and non-family firms
  • Born global features of family firms
  • International opportunity recognition and opportunity development of family firms
  • Comparative studies between the internationalization of family and non-family firms
  • Entrepreneurial orientation in the internationalization of family firms
  • The effect of generational change on the internationalization of family firms
  • Market and entry mode selection of family firms
  • The role of ‘family capital’ as social capital on internationalization of family firms  
  • The differential impact of family governance structure in family firms
  • Foreign direct investments by small multinationals
  • The effects of FDI made by small multinationals on home countries (i.e. those which export capital such as Germany), and the host countries (i.e. those which import capital)
  • Opportunities for ‘economic growth and employment’ brought about by international entrepreneurs and small firms involved in international commercial activities
  • Opportunities and threats for ‘economic growth and employment’ brought about by FDI by small multinationals, both in their own countries and those they invest in.   
  • The relationship between the home and countries where small multinationals were born or invested in
  • Role and impact of the board of directors on internationalization process in SMEs
  • Impact of international alliances and mergers on the internationalization of SMEs
  • Internationalizing SMEs and emerging digital economies
  • Ethics and internationalization of family-owned SMEs
  • Values-based leadership and internationalization of family-owned SMEs
  • OTHER TOPICS RELEVANT IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS