Contributions of business support services to the internationalization of SMEs : Case of Grow to Market
Tapio, Iina (2020)
Tapio, Iina
2020
All rights reserved. This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2020061518788
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2020061518788
Tiivistelmä
Nowadays, small and medium sized companies are the driving forces of economic growth and internationalization. However, SMEs face challenges within internationalization which creates a demand for business support services, BSSs. Grow to Market is a private BSS that specializes in helping companies to internationalize.
The objective of the research was to analyze the actual contribution of BSSs to the internationalization processes of companies by implementing a case study of Grow to Market program. The research adapted a network approach of internationalization as a theoretical framework which evaluated networking alongside different support types. The theoretical framework allowed to investigate companies’ internationalization levels before and after attending to the Grow to Market program. The research approach was qualitative, and the primary data was collected through semi-structured interviews with Grow to Market Business Director and two companies that have participated to the program in 2017-2019. Grow to Market Annual report and companies' websites were analyzed as secondary data.
The findings reflected a connection between internationalization processes of participated companies and the contribution of the Grow to Market program. The main support types that had a major impact on the internationalization were networking, market knowledge and advice & consultancy. Grow to Market provides an access to its network which in turn is a key to provide specific market knowledge through advice & consultancy via Grow to Market’s network members.
The novelty of Grow to Market and limited secondary sources were limitations of the present study. Further longitudinal investigation of Grow to Market or a comparative study between other BSSs would be helpful in order to analyze companies that are beginning international operations or to analyze continued influence of BSSs.
The objective of the research was to analyze the actual contribution of BSSs to the internationalization processes of companies by implementing a case study of Grow to Market program. The research adapted a network approach of internationalization as a theoretical framework which evaluated networking alongside different support types. The theoretical framework allowed to investigate companies’ internationalization levels before and after attending to the Grow to Market program. The research approach was qualitative, and the primary data was collected through semi-structured interviews with Grow to Market Business Director and two companies that have participated to the program in 2017-2019. Grow to Market Annual report and companies' websites were analyzed as secondary data.
The findings reflected a connection between internationalization processes of participated companies and the contribution of the Grow to Market program. The main support types that had a major impact on the internationalization were networking, market knowledge and advice & consultancy. Grow to Market provides an access to its network which in turn is a key to provide specific market knowledge through advice & consultancy via Grow to Market’s network members.
The novelty of Grow to Market and limited secondary sources were limitations of the present study. Further longitudinal investigation of Grow to Market or a comparative study between other BSSs would be helpful in order to analyze companies that are beginning international operations or to analyze continued influence of BSSs.