SME Forum - Going International: Confidence, Connections and Capabilities

Researchers from the University of Sheffield, Melanie Hassett, Marian Jones, Junzhe Ji and Tina McGuinness, along with Karl Warner from Edinburgh Napier University, hosted a sandpit event on the internationalisation of SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises). During the event they engaged in conversations with guests from local SMEs, government support agencies, and other facilitating bodies.

The aim of this event was to capture the entrepreneurial voice from lived experiences of ‘going international’ and to understand how entrepreneurs, intermediaries/support organisations and academics can create and share knowledge with potential to enhance sustainable success for SMEs in international markets.

The mechanisms through which a firm becomes international are well known, yet research shows that many firms find that building confidence and capabilities can be as problematic as dealing with exchange rates, freight forwarding and export guarantees. From that starting point, the group enjoyed an afternoon of lively conversation and shared narratives, and collectively generated a series of issues on which to build an agenda for future engagement, research and collaboration.

Participating were 13 entrepreneurs, four representatives from three intermediary/ support orgnisations, six academics and three doctoral researchers.

In the concluding conversation the group explored areas identified by participants as deserving attention from service providers such as intermediary organisations, support organisations and universities. In summary the main themes identified were:

• Support for the SMEs in the ‘middle bit’, after the start-up phase
• Need to share positive and successful stories of internationalisation
• Need to share non-traditional success stories including the honest reality and hard work
• Learning-by-doing, and learning-by-engaging in, or constructing communities of practice
• How to change attitudes about culture and diversity at home and abroad
• Making international connections and networking (crossing cultural and institutional barriers and mindsets) at home and abroad
• Extending the multicultural university experience to local business communities.

You can read more about the work our academics do and how we work with other companies on our business pages.