Managing Internationalisation

“Managing Internationalisation” explains the process of internationalising any kind of organisation from a management perspective. Based on the renowned EFQM Excellence Model, all issues with special relevance for international activities are explained and traced back to recent scientific research and good management practise. The book is meant for practitioners and students alike. For a better understanding, extensive illustrations, examples, exercises and recommendations for case studies enrich the text. Dieses Buch erklärt den Prozess der Internationalisierung von Organisationen aus der Sicht des Managements. Auf der Basis des EFQM-Modells für Business Excellence (Qualitätsmanagement) werden alle für internationale Aktivitäten relevanten Themen erläutert. Das Buch ist für Praktiker und Studierende gleichermaßen geeignet. Mit praxisnahen Übungen und Fallstudien.

Few nations have internationalized their business operations as successfully as the Swedes. This book, first published in 1989, looks at the process in detail, examining the international operations of Swedish firms since 1970, including acquisitions of foreign firms. The international dimension of business is becoming increasingly important for firms of all sizes, and this analysis of what happens when companies enter and then sustain a presence in the international arena will be of great value to students and teachers of international business and management.

Retail internationalisation refers to the establishment of retailers into foreign sales markets and is an important success factor for many retail chains. Logistics has been acknowledged as an important prerequisite and key component of retail internationalisation, enabling physical distribution to new foreign markets as well as ensuring customer satisfaction in terms of on-time delivery and product availability. Despite the recognition of logistics, logistics managers struggle to adapt their logistics organisation and operations in order to efficiently and effectively support retail internationalisation due to the complexity of operating in multiple markets. Previous research seldom mentions how logistics supports retail internationalisation, especially when retail chains are at the beginning of their retail-internationalisation journey. By exploring the supporting role of logistics during the early stage of retail internationalisation, retailers can better understand how logistics organisation and operations can be organised in order to successfully expand into foreign sales markets. Therefore, the purpose of this licentiate thesis is to: Explore the supporting role of logistics during the early stage of retail internationalisation. This licentiate thesis is based on an abductive, multiple-case-study approach that combines empirical data with literature in an iterative process in order to explore the supporting role of logistics during the early stage of retail internationalisation. The selected case companies were three large-sized Swedish retail chains that have recently established themselves into nearby foreign sales markets. The findings of this licentiate thesis suggest that logistics plays both a reactive and a proactive supporting role during the early stage of retail internationalisation. The reactive supporting role refers to logistics that adapts to predetermined conditions set by the retail company’s top management team. As a reactive supporter, the logistics organisation is typically involved at an operational level and scales up its logistics operations in order to supply multiple markets. Beyond its reactive role, logistics can also play a proactive supporting role. This refers to its involvement at a strategic level within the retail company where it can influence the conditions of retail internationalisation. When logistics is involved more proactively, its operations can become better aligned with the other company operations involved in retail internationalisation. Furthermore, proactive logistics support enables more efficient and effective logistics that can better cope with increased complexity as well as more effectively keeping track of logistics costs. In addition to these findings, the importance of top management has been identified as a key aspect of proactive logistics support. More specifically, logistics competence within the top management team enables logistics to be prioritised at a strategic level and to be better integrated during retail internationalisation, including during individual establishments into new markets. The findings also suggest that the importance of logistics increases over time during retail internationalisation. The more markets the retailer enters, the more important efficient logistics becomes in order to deal with both complexity and logistics costs. By involving proactive logistics from the start of retail internationalisation, retail chains can more efficiently and effectively establish into and operate within foreign sales markets, which in turn supports a sustainable retail internationalisation. One of the main academic contributions of this licentiate thesis has been to study logistics in the specific context of retail internationalisation, which has previously not been researched in any great detail. In addition, logistics has often been studied as a static aspect, but in this thesis it is studied from a dynamic perspective in order to understand how its supporting role changes over time during the early stage of retail internationalisation. Another important contribution is that the role of logistics has been studied from both a strategic and an operational level, as previous research has mostly focused on the strategic level of logistics related to retail internationalisation. In terms of practical contributions, this licentiate thesis clarifies the logistics characteristics and supply-chain capabilities that support the early stage of retail internationalisation. This licentiate thesis can also help practitioners to better prepare their logistics organisation and logistics operations for a future retail internationalisation, as well as helping them to avoid making logistical mistakes during the early stage of retail internationalisation.

The influence of business networks formed in the internationalisation process on a company's performance, and the mechanism by which they emerge have not yet been subject to extensive and in-depth empirical studies This research gap has provided the impetus for the comprehensive explorations performed by the Department of International Marketing of the Poznań University of Economics within the framework of two research projects conducted in 2006-2008 and 2010-2012. The book emphasis key elements of a research process It presents conceptual propositions, the results of empiric studies and case-study analyses.

This book seeks to put together the voices, the diverse positions and views of policy makers, gatekeepers and actors involved in the internationalisation of higher education institutions in Malaysia higher education system. It begins with an exploration of the literature and then examines the critical issues faced on the ground by higher education institutions in Malaysia. Issues are identified and interpreted based on a survey as well as those obtained from interviews involving stakeholders and players from various academic backgrounds, administrative positions and practitioner experiences. The findings indicated that there are diverse and contested perspectives on the aims, challenges and complexities faced in internationalisation. Broadly, there seems to be general agreement that Malaysia has fairly clear policies on the internationalisation in higher education which emphasises the mobility of students with a focus on the recruitment of international students and academic staff. Increasingly the respondents agree that there are needs to be a shift to a more holistic view of internationalisation which is system wide including internationalisation at home, enhancing research and development, and the need for greater institutional autonomy. This book characterises the complex contexts and issues around internationalisation in the Malaysia higher education system including issues around access and equity, competition and/or collaboration, import oriented and/ or domestic internationalisation. It also aims to provide a theoretical, conceptual and empirical evidence based resources for more informed evidence based policy and practice for the internationalisation of higher education systems. Keywords: Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penerbit Universiti Sains Malayia, Penerbit USM

This collective book offers a cross-country perspective on the internationalisation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Scholars from prestigious institutions in Europe, North America, Australia and China provide new insights on how SMEs develop and perform their international activities.

This book provides a comprehensive examination of the many factors that influence the internationalisation of SMEs into China. SMEs represent more than 50 percent of the economic activity and employment in China. This book explores the experiences of SMEs that have internationalised to China from Australia. Australian SMEs are at the forefront of foreign SMEs in China with over 5000 Australian SMEs currently operating in China and a long history of association. The book is unique in that it presents a multidisciplinary perspective of the subject, considering seven different discipline perspectives (internationalisation, innovation, entrepreneurship, networks, resources, human resource management and barriers and liabilities). This makes the book one of the most comprehensive treatments of internationalisation to China so far. Each chapter in the book deals with a different perspective and includes own separate analysis. The chapters commence with a consideration of the current knowledge on internationalising to China for each perspective, analyse the interviews of representatives of 35 SMEs operating in China and then draw conclusions which are relevant to students, scholars and professionals. Each chapter includes extensive examples from the interviews. This integrated book is particularly useful for small business owners, international business management consultants, instructors and students.

This book reviews and analyses the issues and policies of internationalization and exportation of higher education and investigates the strategies and models of education hub development in the context of globalization, with Hong Kong in the Asia-Pacific region as a case study. It examines the close relationship between education hubs and higher education, as well as the strategic functions of an education hub in the future development of a society in a competitive global environment. It also analyses the major strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of Hong Kong’s higher education in relation to its potential for exporting higher education to Asian markets. In particular, it reviews the current state of higher education services offered by Hong Kong in three target markets and their segmentation and proposes the most appropriate market entry strategies for education service providers.