What is it about?
The purpose of this study is to better understand the role of certain variables in the determination of SME export activities. We focused more specifically on two variables: an SME's propensity to take risk, and the risk-management mechanisms these firms may have implemented.
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Why is it important?
The results of this study will enable business support organisations to provide entrepreneurs with information and tools to assist them in their internationalisation efforts to achieve greater economic spinoffs for their territory. The entrepreneurs will also be introduced to risk-management mechanisms with which they can arm themselves as they seize business opportunities in non-traditional, high-growth international markets.
Perspectives
The relatively weak export rates and lack of SME interest in certain emerging countries that present significant business opportunities are a concern among a fair number of economic stakeholders. Two explanations have generally been put forward to explain this reluctance among SME leaders to engage in trade in high-risk areas: (1) the degree of risk of failure associated with these trade destinations that require from the outset that entrepreneurs have positive attitude toward risk-taking and, (2) the ability to manage such risks. The results of this study confirm that both of these explanations are well founded, but each of them only partly explains the decisions by Québec business entrepreneurs to export to Asian countries. Both of these explanations must be studied concurrently to better understand these decisions. A risk-taking manager who has succeeded in implementing various mechanisms to face these risks has a better chance of achieving success with international trade to lesser known and more uncertain countries.
Professor Sophie Veilleux
Universite Laval
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Québec SME Risk Management and Exports to Asian Countries, September 2018, Emerald,
DOI: 10.1108/s1876-066x20180000034010.
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