The Effects of Online Learning Experience During the COVID-19 Pandemic on Students’ Satisfaction, Adjustment, Performance, and Loyalty

This research investigates the student online learning experience (SOLE) during the 2020 spring Covid-19 pandemic. We collected quantitative data through an online survey from 362 international and 488 domestic students at a large Polish University. Correlation and path analysis within a conceptual model of SOLE and its academic outcomes established that (1) SOLE explained adjustment, performance, satisfaction, and loyalty, (2) academic adjustment predicts performance, satisfaction, and loyalty, (3) that academic performance and satisfaction predict student loyalty, and (4) that academic performance predicts satisfaction. Interestingly, time spent in quarantine/self-isolation did not exert any effect on academic outcomes in SOLE. Moreover, qualitative data collected via narrative interviews with 13 international and domestic students developed our understanding of SOLE and its outcomes. We propose some research and practice implications for universities to enhance SOLE

SMEs and business internationalisation: the contribution of communication skills

Recent decades have seen rapid and significant changes in the field of international business and management. Whilst the globalisation of economies and markets has led to greater frequency of communication and interaction between companies and people of different cultures and native tongues, academic research has struggled to keep pace with the nature and consequences of better communication technologies and greater human mobility. Much literature remains rooted in dated business and economic paradigms of relevance to few companies and takes little account of new forms of behaviour. This thesis examines the contribution of communication skills, in the form of cultural and linguistic competence, to the development and performance of companies and managers, primarily SMEs, in their international markets. Drawing on original data from regional and international studies conducted over the last ten years, it illuminates the shift from the exporting to the internationalising model, from the language training to the intercultural model and from the training to the developmental/consulting model, as these changes have manifested themselves as responses to the new global business environment. This shift has been very visible in business reality and the policy sphere. Academic literature has struggled to present these phenomena coherently and the author’s contribution to the generation of new data and the development of new theories and perspectives is argued and evidenced. Over-simplification of the actual market operations of international SMEs, the role of foreign language competence in business performance and the presentation of culture as a key phenomenon are presented as original contributions by the author based on primary research data. The place of this contribution in the literature is discussed and areas and issues requiring further investigation are highlighted, particularly the need for more firm and individual-based research, preferably of a longitudinal nature

Intercultural interaction: a sense-making approach

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Building the international SME: a global policy response

The past twenty years has seen growing academic and policy interest in the role of SMEs within a global context. There has been much debate surrounding the negative impact of globalisation on the international SME arising from increased competitive pressures. However, SMEs have long found opportunities in the global economy and as international trade has expanded so too have these opportunities. The numerous benefits to SMEs engaged in international trade are well documented, with a considerable body of evidence that international trading activity stimulates increased productivity growth by strengthening competition and innovation and increasing access to new ideas and technology. International trading activity enables businesses to achieve growth and economies of scale which domestic markets alone would not provide. Exporters are consistently found to out-perform non-exporters using a variety of measures of success, including profitability, production, wages and sales volumes. Despite these advantages, the SME share in the total value of international trade is often found to be markedly lower that their share in GDP, evidence of the barriers facing the SME seeking to access international markets. Accordingly the international SME has attracted the attention of policy makers, as any barriers to international trade are likely to impinge disproportionately on this group of firms which are often the most productive, R & D intensive and most growth orientated, and thus potentially the strongest contributors to a dynamic national economy. This paper is based on a study undertaken by the OECD/APEC to gain a better understanding of the barriers to internationalising (defined as all those constraints that hinder the firm's ability to initiate, to develop, or to sustain business operations in overseas markets) faced by SMEs, and to share knowledge of government interventions to reduce those barriers. In general, there seems to be a close match between the perceived barriers as reported by Member Economies and those that are perceived by SMEs. For the most part, support measures are appropriate to the key barriers reported by the international SME. Some mismatches do appear however. There appears to be something of a policy gap with regard to external barriers falling within the 'business environment' dimension. Here, governments appear to underestimate the barriers facing the SME as they attempt to access international markets

Skills and knowledge needs of the global SME

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Competing effectively in international markets: SMEs and the "Internationalisation Web"

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Advancing entrepreneurial boundaries: a critical reflection on understanding and supporting the internationalisation of SMEs

This paper will undertake a critical review of a number of assumptions underpinning current thinking on understanding and supporting the internationalisation of the small and medium sized enterprise. The past twenty years has seen an explosion in academic research in the area of internationalisation, which has resulted in a considerable body of academic thinking. Rather than increasing our 'knowledge' as to how the world works, this mass of activity has simply served to increase confusion and our lack of understanding of how SMEs internationalise and how to enhance the effectiveness of current forms of business support. A number of mythical concepts and misconceptions have emerged upon which a number of policy and support assumptions have been developed. The paper will address the reasons behind this mismatch through providing a number of critical insights in the area of internationalisation in SMEs. In so doing, the paper will address the following questions: What do we know about the process of internationalisation and the SME? What are the key areas of 'need to know'? What are the implications for academics, practitioners and policy makers? Through the use of a number of case studies from the North East and the Eastern Region of England, the paper will present a thought provoking and challenging discussion which will move the debate forward in this critical area of entrepreneurship and policy

Management consulting and international business support for SMEs: need and obstacles

This paper explores the challenges involved in the development of coordinated management consulting services for small and medium-sized international companies in the East of England. This paper synthesises the findings of recently published quantitative and qualitative research to identify the characteristics of small to medium-sized enterprises seeking to trade internationally. The provision of coordinated and funded consulting services for these companies will require skills and marketing tools development for advisers and consultants. The region's success in achieving its economic targets will be assessed in terms of its inherent features and emerging strategies to move from service based on the information paradigm to those based on the consultancy paradigm