denotes the processes of international expansion of the firm achieved solely in online environments or with the assistance of online business.
Published in Chapter:
Global Online Performance and Service Orientation
Anna Morgan-Thomas (University of Glasgow, UK) and Robert Paton (University of Glasgow, UK)
Copyright: © 2010
|Pages: 12
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-61520-611-7.ch017
Abstract
The competition currently facing small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) is characterized by three interacting trends: market globalization; enhanced e-commerce technology; and the growth of the service economy. With respect to the first trend, globalization has led SMEs into world markets and some are rapidly becoming global players (Chetty and Blankenburg Holm, 2000; Oviatt and McDougall, 1997). Understanding the processes that underpin success is of paramount importance to academics and practitioners alike (Beamish et al., 1999; Cavusgil and Zou, 1994). With respect to the second trend, e-commerce has redefined the nature of global business (Karavdic and Gregory, 2005; Quelch and Klein, 1996). By facilitating a direct link between the firm and customer, e-commerce provides a low cost gateway to global markets (Etemad and Wright, 1999). For many SMEs, online activity accelerates the growth dynamics by increasing global sales (Morgan- Thomas and Bridgewater, 2004; Raymond et al., 2005); reduces global operational costs (Lohrke et al., 2006; Matlay and Westhead, 2005); or enhances the rate and geographical spread of foreign market entries (Kim, 2003).