Information technology and electronics firms from Taiwan Province of China in the United Kingdom: Emerging trends and implications

This article examines the modal choices, key activities and motivations of non-dominant information technology and electronics firms from Taiwan Province of China in the United Kingdom, against the backdrop of recent trends in the global economy. Its main findings include the limited prospects of the sample firms' evolution into manufacturing activity in the United Kingdom and the increasing importance of inter-firm logistics collaboration. Among the key policy implications discussed in the article are: the need for appropriate measures to support the United Kingdom's positioning as a gateway to, and a preferred base for intelligence gathering on, other European markets; the need for "high-wage" advanced economies to capitalize upon their not-easily-replicable location-specific advantages (e.g. reputable research-anddevelopment clusters; substantial domestic market) in targeting foreign direct investment in the research and development, design and sales-related areas; and the importance of a more balanced investment attraction strategy that actively targets major global players (and their capacity to attract secondary inward investment) without compromising support for indigenous growth companies. Future research should pay greater attention to the intra-regional, rather than intra-country, context of firms' evolution in international markets

Export entrepreneurship among environmentally challenged African firms

This paper examines the export entrepreneurship among environmentally challenged African firms

Toward a greater level of international entrepreneurship among agribusiness firms: Resource levers and strategic options

This paper explores the influence of key resource categories – managerial, physical, organisational, relational – and strategic orientation on the international performance of small and medium-sized firms within the relatively neglected agribusiness sector

What do we know about international entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa?

This paper aims to improve overall understanding of international entrepreneurship [IE] behaviour of SSA firms, by appraising and integrating evidence from 25 relevant SSA-focused studies. It responds to the germane calls for greater research and policy attention to firm-level international entrepreneurship behaviour in SSA; this is particularly important given the widely agreed association between firm internationalisation and national economic growth (Soderbom and Teal, 2001, 2003). The study's major conclusions include: an observed upward trend in IE activities among SSA firms, particularly in those product areas that the region seems to enjoy some factor advantages; a significant amount of informal exporting, which indicates a potential for further growth in firm-level IE within SSA; the criticality of a strong base of managerial and organisational resources and skill-sets for favourable IE performance (including exporting start, deepening international involvement, and tapping into the potential benefits of 'internetisation'); and the relevance of formal and informal networks and relationships in complementing the relatively modest resource/competency base of SSA firms, and improving their access to, and performance in, international markets. Based on the totality of the review evidence, the paper calls on relevant governments and policy makers to: encourage greater international venturing among suitable SSA firms in view of the organisational learning benefits of so doing (Soderbom and Teal, 2003; Bigsten et al. 2004); encourage current exporters, including those that started out as 'distress' exporters, or informal exporters, to deepen their international involvement level; facilitate business linkages between SSA firms and other important actors in local, regional and international markets; and to get on with the business of creating more enabling environments, and lowering the transaction costs of operating within SSA. The on-going multilateral efforts to encourage increased participation of SSA firms in global trade must also embody appropriately targeted capacity building measures, both managerial and organisational; and the World's corporate giants and investors must show greater resolve to confronting Africa's developmental challenge, by unleashing their investment resources on the many and varied opportunities offered by the continent

Export performance research in the UK: review and theoretical framework

This paper discusses export performance research in the UK, in particular it provides a review and theoretical framework. It was presented at the Academy of International Business UK Chapter Annual Conference in 2001

Toward a contingency framework of export entrepreneurship: Conceptualisations and empirical evidence

This paper reports the findings of a study, which employed a contingency, export-entrepreneurial approach to investigate the critical influences on export venture creation among a sample of Nigerian small firms. Responding to the repeated calls in the literature for multi-disciplinary research frameworks, the paper draws on perspectives from entrepreneurship, exporting, and contingency literatures to examine the antecedent and moderating influences on the export behavior of small firms. It explores, in particular, the effect of entrepreneurial orientation and external environmental moderators in the export venture creation process of small firms. The findings suggest that an entrepreneurial orientation is associated with better export venturing, and is the appropriate strategic posture for small firms operating in hostile environments. It would appear, also, that this orientation is associated with certain decision-maker characteristics (including international orientation and contacts and previous business experience) and firm-level competencies. By thus highlighting the entrepreneurial dimensions of export venturing, this paper makes the case for greater policy focus on strengthening the entrepreneurial foundations/capacities of small firms

Exploring international entrepreneurial orientation among UK agribusiness firms: a research agenda

This paper discusses exploring international entrepreneurial orientation among UK agribusiness firms. It was presented at the 4th McGill Conference on International Entrepreneurship, in 2001

Toward greater firm-level international entrepreneurship within the UK agribusiness sector: strategic options and resource

This paper examines toward greater firm-level international entrepreneurship within the UK agribusiness sector

Nascent transnational corporations from rising Africa: preliminary insights and research agenda

This conference paper outlines research on nascent transnational corporations in Africa

Furthering export participation in less performing developing countries: the effects of entrepreneurial orientation and managerial capacity factors

This paper reports relevant evidence regarding the importance of decision makers' background and experiential factors in promoting export entrepreneurship among less performing developing country firms. Subsequent discussion reveals the consistency of the findings with the balance of previous empirical literature, and underlines the need for international success-seeking LPDC firms to prioritise the acquisition of requisitely qualified managerial staff. The central thesis of the paper is that with the right quality of decision makers, smaller LPDC firms could be properly led to procure and develop other advantage-creating competencies that might enable them overcome external internationalisation barriers. The implications of the foregoing for enhancing LPDC firms' access to global markets, as envisioned under the Millennium Development Declaration, are discussed