Is a relationship in which one company is involved in a business relationship in the supply chain with other firm, involving the provision of raw materials, components, spare parts, products or services. Normally this type of relationship is celebrated between two firms to abandon adversarial, transaction-based involvements and to embrace partnership-like involvements.
Published in Chapter:
Inward Internationalization: Important Challenges Among SMEs
António Carrizo Moreira (University of Aveiro, Portugal), Luis Miguel D. F. Ferreira (Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal), and Pedro Miguel Freitas da Silva (University of Aveiro, Portugal)
Copyright: © 2018
|Pages: 26
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-3543-0.ch012
Abstract
The existing literature on internationalization and purchasing is vast; however, the inward internationalization perspective is an under-researched topic. In this chapter, the authors review the literature on internationalization of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to understand the main reasons behind international purchasing and the role of experience on internationalization. Using a survey and descriptive statistics, the results from 56 respondents show that SMEs source from a small number of countries and hold those relationships for several years. The main reasons underlying international purchases are lower prices and better product quality, regardless of goods availability on the domestic market. This chapter has some limitations concerning its exploratory nature, pertaining to its sample size. Some future research avenues are presented such as a deeper look on how internationalization processes differ when SMEs begin their activity by inward rather than by outward activities.