Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that wish to penetrate foreign markets, need to find resources and competences that a single company cannot control alone. For this reason, the most far-sighted SMEs move and share resources and competences through collaboration and lasting relationships with other firms. This involves activities such as purchasing, production, delivery, and post-purchase services. These activities are not necessary tied to a unique market and can refer to relationships that are often critical in the value constellation of the company. The product value comes from the combined action of the actors of the international network, so the internationalization process drives to a network approach. This one is built on the development of business relationships involving different public and private actors. Several empirical studies underline how business relationships are important for companies both to develop their activities and businesses, and to survive on national and international markets . Other studies highlight that also cultural aspects are important in establishing business relations and in managing activities . The aims of the paper are: •To describe how Italian SMEs approach the Chinese market •To understand how Italian SMEs have changed their business model to face the Chinese challenge •To analyze how they collaborate with different business partners along the supply chain. This work presents empirical evidences related to 8 case studies belonging to a sample of 126 Italian SMEs operating in China. This research is part of a wider project that is financed by the Italian Ministry of University and Scientific Research (Prin 2007), and is based on the analysis of “Business models and market strategies for Italian SMEs to enter the Chinese market”. The methodology is organized in two steps: a quantitative research to gather general information on strategies and tactics that are adopted by Italian SMEs on the Chinese market, and a qualitative research to deepen the most significant managerial and marketing issues to succeed in China (strategies, co-operation, competences), by finding out best practices. The empirical analysis confirms the latest developments of the theory on internationalization, and in the meantime shows a change on Italian SMEs attitudes towards foreign markets that are both geographically and culturally distant from them. Companies listen, understand, and adapt to the local market in order to set a correct marketing mix. The empirical evidences also confirm the importance of partnerships along the whole supply chain, in particular with local actors, to succeed in China. So, business relationships become a key element for Italian SMEs, both to investigate needs of foreign customers, to monitor how the local context evolves, and to identify business partners in order to play in an international arena successfully. Both horizontal and vertical marketing relationships become critical in the Chinese context, where the presence and support of a “business-cultural mediator” is crucial. Therefore, it is necessary for Italian SMEs to have a marketing organization that is trained and prepared to approach distant cultures, and interact with them in order to achieve a sustainable business growth. Trust building between the parties (being them firms belonging to the same or different industry or public or private actors) is crucial for the definition of virtuous paths of internationalization. To this we also add a growing focus on the development of internal resources, who must be guided by involvement and cooperation.

Italian small and medium entreprises in China. Relationships and cultural distances throughout the supply chain.

CEDROLA, ELENA;
2010-01-01

Abstract

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that wish to penetrate foreign markets, need to find resources and competences that a single company cannot control alone. For this reason, the most far-sighted SMEs move and share resources and competences through collaboration and lasting relationships with other firms. This involves activities such as purchasing, production, delivery, and post-purchase services. These activities are not necessary tied to a unique market and can refer to relationships that are often critical in the value constellation of the company. The product value comes from the combined action of the actors of the international network, so the internationalization process drives to a network approach. This one is built on the development of business relationships involving different public and private actors. Several empirical studies underline how business relationships are important for companies both to develop their activities and businesses, and to survive on national and international markets . Other studies highlight that also cultural aspects are important in establishing business relations and in managing activities . The aims of the paper are: •To describe how Italian SMEs approach the Chinese market •To understand how Italian SMEs have changed their business model to face the Chinese challenge •To analyze how they collaborate with different business partners along the supply chain. This work presents empirical evidences related to 8 case studies belonging to a sample of 126 Italian SMEs operating in China. This research is part of a wider project that is financed by the Italian Ministry of University and Scientific Research (Prin 2007), and is based on the analysis of “Business models and market strategies for Italian SMEs to enter the Chinese market”. The methodology is organized in two steps: a quantitative research to gather general information on strategies and tactics that are adopted by Italian SMEs on the Chinese market, and a qualitative research to deepen the most significant managerial and marketing issues to succeed in China (strategies, co-operation, competences), by finding out best practices. The empirical analysis confirms the latest developments of the theory on internationalization, and in the meantime shows a change on Italian SMEs attitudes towards foreign markets that are both geographically and culturally distant from them. Companies listen, understand, and adapt to the local market in order to set a correct marketing mix. The empirical evidences also confirm the importance of partnerships along the whole supply chain, in particular with local actors, to succeed in China. So, business relationships become a key element for Italian SMEs, both to investigate needs of foreign customers, to monitor how the local context evolves, and to identify business partners in order to play in an international arena successfully. Both horizontal and vertical marketing relationships become critical in the Chinese context, where the presence and support of a “business-cultural mediator” is crucial. Therefore, it is necessary for Italian SMEs to have a marketing organization that is trained and prepared to approach distant cultures, and interact with them in order to achieve a sustainable business growth. Trust building between the parties (being them firms belonging to the same or different industry or public or private actors) is crucial for the definition of virtuous paths of internationalization. To this we also add a growing focus on the development of internal resources, who must be guided by involvement and cooperation.
2010
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11393/45894
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