Enterprises' internationalisation strategy: skills in exportation and customs law

Economical development has always been connected to the commercial exchanges between people, due to the necessity to suppress their needs. With the increasing growth of international business and more competitive and demanding markets, exportation has become an important first step to internationalisation. Unlike what happened in the past, companies must be aware that the enrolment in the current global market is risky and requires elaborated technical procedures. Internationalisation should not be treated as an isolated event of business management. The first part of this paper aims to understand the export process and fit it in the current stage of international trade, keeping in mind the framework of export under the customs law. Then, we tried to understand how Portuguese companies should face this process in their internationalisation strategy, and what skills organisations must acquire to be able to export competitively in the current scenario of globalisation. The investigation was based on interviews in companies that, through a process of internationalisation by exportation, have implemented themselves strongly in extern markets. This investigation allowed us to analyse the companies’ motivations to become international, as well as the selection criteria for the export destinations. It was also possible to identify the main obstacles to the internationalisation of Portuguese companies. We concluded that companies that choose exportation as a way to become international acquire specific skills that enable them to become competitive in international trade. However, studies have failed to answer the second initial question about whether the measures implemented by Customs potentiate exports.

Growth strategies of international companies in the emerging markets of South-East Europe

Työn tarkoituksena oli tutkia niitä tekijöitä jotka ovat vaikuttaneet kansainvälisten yritysten myynnin kasvuun Romaniassa, Bulgariassa, Serbiassa ja Sloveniassa. Tutkimusta varten haastateltiin neljää kansainvälisen yrityksen edustajaa sekä 16 kansainvälisen kaupan ammattilaista. Työn akateemisena viitekehyksenä käytettiin keskeisiä kansainvälisen liiketoiminnan teorioita sekä myynnin strategista viitekehystä. Johtopäätöksenä katsotaan, että menestyvillä yrityksillä on selvä kansainvälistymis-strategia, kansainvälinen organisaatio, konsultoiva myyntityyli ja resursseja investoida koulutukseen. Tarkastelun alla olevista maista etenkin Romaniasta ja Bulgarista löytyy liiketoiminta potentiaalia. Tutkimuksen johtopäätökset perustuvat laadullisiin ja määrällisiin tutkimusmenetelmiin ja ne on tarkoitettu palvemaan Tikkurila Oy:tä. Tutkimustuloksia on myös mahdollista soveltaa laajemmin samanlaisessa tutkimusympäristössä, kunhan tutkittavan liiketoimintaympäristön erityispiirteet ovat otetttu huomioon

International retail restructuring and divestment: the experience of Tesco

A key purpose of this study is to explore the lessons learned from international retail divestment and market withdrawal experiences. Drawing on 33 in-depth interviews with leading investment banks and key retail executives at Tesco, the study investigates the company's international restructuring and divestment activities in Ireland and France during the mid -1980s and 1990s. It has been demonstrated that, despite the progressive merger and acquisition wave sweeping through the corporate retail landscape recently, international retail divestment is quite widespread. The main conclusion from this study is that Tesco originally did not envisage divestment or de-internationalisation as part of the original internationalisation strategy process in either the acquisition of Three Guys in Ireland or Catteau in France. There was no appreciation from Tesco during their early period of expansion of the fact that exit pressures might arise during the course of market entry. In this regard, the case study provides insights into the relationship between investment and divestment within the context of international retail restructuring. The case evidence also demonstrates the positive impact of the Three Guys and Catteau divestments which helped management to refocus and rejuvenate the company's internationalisation process.

A gestão estratégica da internacionalização no ensino superior: contributos do gabinete de relações internacionais

A internacionalização assume um papel central na agenda do ensino superior, influenciando a missão e condicionando, de forma deliberada ou emergente, as opções assumidas pelas Instituições. Embora vários estudos e análises internacionais de referência confirmem esta evidência, a reflexão sobre o contributo da internacionalização para o desenvolvimento das Instituições de Ensino Superior remete-nos para duas questões: como é que a internacionalização pode ser gerida pelas Instituições? e qual o contributo dos Gabinetes de Relações Internacionais? Recorrendo ao estudo de caso e à análise bibliográfica, esta investigação desenvolve e confirma que para recorrerem à internacionalização como ferramenta para alcançar determinados fins, as Instituições de Ensino Superior têm de alicerçar a gestão dessa internacionalização em dois pressupostos, nomeadamente: reconhecer a transversalidade e promover uma abordagem estratégica do fenómeno. Neste contexto, e de acordo com os resultados da investigação empírica, os Gabinetes de Relações Internacionais emergem como centros privilegiados de inspiração para a internacionalização das Instituições que integram. Não apenas porque efectivamente implementam uma actividade que promove a internacionalização, a mobilidade internacional, mas principalmente porque a gestão dessa actividade é susceptível de evolução e sofisticação, despoletando novos desafios ao nível das abordagens institucionais para com a internacionalização. ABSTRACT: lnternationalisation is now a central agenda for higher education, shaping the mission and influencing, deliberately or emergently, the institutional decisions. Although several international studies and analysis of reference confirm this fact, when thinking about the contribution of the internationalisation to the development of the Higher Education lnstitutions, two questions arise: how can internationalisation be managed by the lnstitutions? And what is the role played by the lnternational Relations Office? By using a case study and a bibliographical analysis, the research points out that to use the internationalisation as a means to achieve certain goals, the Higher Education lnstitutions must base the management of internationalisation on two major assumptions: recognizing the transversality and promoting a strategic approach to the phenomenon. ln this context, and according to the empirical research results, the lnternational Relations Offices emerge as privileged units, inspiring the internationalisation process of the institutions in which they operate. Not only because the offices operationalize an activity that effectively promotes internationalisation, the international mobility, but mainly because the management of this activity is likely to develop and improve, prompting new challenges in terms of institutional approaches to internalionalisation.

Actor-network theory as a theoretical lens and research strategy for investigating firm internationalisation

Totally generalisable theories of firm internationalisation in the post-industrial era of international business, where national barriers are becoming less significant and technology becoming more influential, appear to be illusory. Stepwise or evolutionary models that predict gradual internationalisation are under challenge from empirical evidence of rapid internationalisation such as the phenomenon of the “born global” firm. Similarly, equilibrium models such as the eclectic paradigm have been criticised for being static and unable to account for process and path dependency. In this paper, the information and knowledge assumptions implied in theories of firm internationalisation are outlined and discussed. From this discussion, we suggest that actor-network theory, with its balance between description and explanation, may be a useful theoretical and empirical tool for investigating the complex and heterogeneous process of firm internationalisation whilst creating opportunities for further theory building.

An internationalisation research project into the German market for the Portuguese canned seafood company COFACO.

This project is aimed to analyse the German market of canned fish, in order to find out if there is potential of entering the market for the Portuguese canned seafood company named COFACO. The purpose of this foreign market research, carried out for COFACO, is to highlight the main key aspects of the current German seafood market, founded out through a deep analysis. Moreover, the work project is also aimed to give the company suggestions regarding the Brand, the Product and the Distribution strategy to implement in order to succeed, once considered the opportunity to enter the market.

Ireland's International Education Strategy 2010 - 2015: Investing in Global Relationships

Ireland, as a small, open European economy, relies fundamentally on international engagement. An internationalised education system in Ireland has a crucial role to play in maintaining Ireland’s international profile and attractiveness by educating the next generation of leaders, entrepreneurs and decision-makers in our partner-countries, by giving our own students the intercultural expertise demanded in the global economy, and by enhancing the direct link with Ireland for members of our global diaspora who choose to come home to study. The High-Level Group on International Education takes the view that, from a national perspective, the most compelling rationale for internationalisation is investment in future global relationships: with students educated in Ireland who will become our advocates overseas, with educational institutions that will be the research and teaching partners of the future, and with the countries that will be Ireland’s next trading and business partners

Ireland's International Education Strategy 2010 - 2015: Investing in Global Relationships Summary Report

Ireland, as a small, open European economy, relies fundamentally on international engagement. An internationalised education system in Ireland has a crucial role to play in maintaining Ireland’s international profile and attractiveness by educating the next generation of leaders, entrepreneurs and decision-makers in our partner-countries, by giving our own students the intercultural expertise demanded in the global economy, and by enhancing the direct link with Ireland for members of our global diaspora who choose to come home to study. The High-Level Group on International Education takes the view that, from a national perspective, the most compelling rationale for internationalisation is investment in future global relationships: with students educated in Ireland who will become our advocates overseas, with educational institutions that will be the research and teaching partners of the future, and with the countries that will be Ireland’s next trading and business partners. Internationalisation also provides a means of enhancing the quality of learning, teaching and research in Ireland and makes a significant contribution to our broader ambition as a global innovation hub.

Productivity, Technical eficiency and internationalisation of the Spanish chemical sector

relationship between productivity and international position of Spanish chemical firms in the period 2005-2011. The goal is to determine whether companies that follow and international strategy, either with exports or by investment in foreign countries obtain greater productivity growth than these that do not operate in global market. For this purpose a panel data set with microdata has been created. A preliminary analysis of the evolution of productivity growth in the sector is carried out. The measurement of Total Factor Productivity is performed. With the estimated TFP we analyze the differentials in productivity growth, comparing the effects of export and investment behavior with non-international firms.

Strategic alliances as an international entry strategy: Finnish cleantech SMEs and the Indian market

The demand for environmental technologies, also called cleantech, is growing globally but the need is especially high in emerging markets such as India where the rising economy and rapid industrialisation have led to increasing energy needs and environmental degradation. The market is of great potential also for the Finnish cleantech cluster that represents advanced expertise in several fields of environmental technologies. However, most of the Finnish companies in the field are SMEs that face challenges in their internationalisation due to their limited resources. The objective of this study was to estimate, whether strategic alliances could be an efficient entry strategy for Finnish cleantech SMEs entering the Indian market. This was done by studying what are the key factors influencing the international entry mode decision of Finnish cleantech SMEs, what are the major factors affecting the entry of Finnish cleantech SMEs to the Indian market and how do Finnish cleantech SMEs use strategic alliances in their internationalisation process. The study was realised as a qualitative multi-case study through theme interviews of Finnish cleantech SME representatives. The results indicated that Finnish cleantech SMEs prefer to enter international markets through non-equity and collaborative modes of entry. These entry modes are chosen because of the small size and limited resources of companies, but also because they want to protect their innovative technologies from property rights violations. India is an attracting market for Finnish cleantech SMEs mainly because of its size and growth, but insufficient environmental regulation and high import tariffs have hindered entry to the market. Finnish cleantech SMEs commonly use strategic alliances in their internationalisation process but the use is rather one-sided. Most of the formed strategic alliances are low-commitment, international contractual agreement in sales and distribution. Alliance partner selection receives less attention. In the future, providing Finnish cleantech SMEs with international experience and training could help in diversifying the use of strategic alliances and increase their benefits to SME internationalisation.

Immigration Strategy for Northern Ostrobothnia 2015

A strategy process was completed in the ESF project “Promotion of Work-related Immigration”, which was implemented at Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment for North Ostrobothnia, and an immigration strategy was drawn up for Northern Ostrobothnia on the basis of the process. Information was collected about the situation in Northern Ostrobothnia from the point of view of immigration and the future availability of labour. The intention was to use the information as background material for the strategy. Employers’ need for support in recruiting foreign labour was investigated with a broad inquiry, to which 1000 respondents replied. The strategy process was carried out together with an outside consultant (Net Effect Oy) by arranging three workshops and a seminar where the workshop results were summarised. A large number of companies, authorities, municipalities, associations, project actors and immigrants engaged in immigration issues participated in the workshops. The draft strategy is based on their experiences about immigration and on statistical data, background inquiries and surveys. To ensure the accuracy of the draft strategy, comments were requested from several parties and received from 64 organisations. The core of the immigration strategy consists of an initial analysis, values, a vision and priorities. The strategy is composed of three priorities. The key aim of the priority Internationalisation and Supporting Diversity is to support diversity in schools, workplaces and people’s everyday lives e.g. through attitude development and by promoting internationalisation in companies and education institutions. The aim of the priority Supporting Entrepreneurship and Recruiting Foreign Labour is to promote entrepreneurship among immigrants and the recruitment of foreign labour and to develop the forecasting of educational needs. The priority Developing Integration Services, Regional Cooperation and Networks, in turn, seeks to develop the service structure and policies of immigrant integration and to increase cooperation and exchange of information between regional actors engaged in integration issues. The aim is to use the strategy as a guideline document for immigration issues in Northern Ostrobothnia. The strategy is used to coordinate the existing organisations and operations dealing with immigration issues. In addition, it contains a future-oriented focus and underlines the management of new immigration projects and operations. The main party responsible for the implementation of the strategy is the Immigration Committee. In addition, responsible parties have been assigned to each measure. The implementation of the immigration strategy will be monitored annually on the basis of indicators.

Bank regulation and the process of internationalisation: a study of Japanese bank entry into London

The paper provides a theoretical insight into bank regulation and the process of internationalisation by examining the concepts of regulatory push and market pull within the context of Japanese bank entry into London during the 1980s. Rugman and Verbeke's [(1998). Corporate strategy and international environmental policy. Journal of International Business Studies, 29(4), 819–833] Consistency of Home and Host Government Goals model is utilised to structure the discussion, which centres on a situation where there is a conflict of goals between multinational enterprises (MNEs) and the home government but goal alignment between MNEs and the host government. As such the paper examines a relatively under-researched aspect of internationalisation and concludes that in certain circumstances internationalisation can occur despite great ‘psychic distance’. The paper also argues that although bank regulation can lead to a conflict situation it can also be conducive to the development of a strong home base and the development of firm specific advantages.