SMEs in the Age of Globalization: (13 The Globalization of the World Economy series)

The purpose of this volume is to bring together the leading scholarly papers about how globalization has impacted the role of SMEs. In fact, globalization has affected SMEs in two major ways. The first has been to facilitate the transnational activities of SMEs. Transnational activities, ranging from exports to foreign direct investment to participating in global value chains have become easier as a result of globalization. The second impact of globalization has been to shift the source of competitiveness towards knowledge-based economic activity, which has led to an increased role for SMEs. The first section of this volume examines how globalization has affected the role of SMEs in the economy. The second section of the volume is devoted to global strategies by SMEs The third section focuses on an important type of global activity of SMEs, which involves foreign direct investment. The fourth section focuses on the role of clusters and networks in generating SME competitiveness in global markets. SME export strategies and performance is analyzed in Section Five. Section Six examines the impact that the international mobility of labour has had on SMEs. The seventh section focuses on the role that SMEs play in transnational technology transfer. Section Eight is devoted to SMEs in the context of developing countries. In the final section of the volume policy issues are raised. This includes identifying how policy needs to address barriers to internationalization confronting SMEs.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Acknowledgements Introduction David B. Audretsch PART I GLOBALIZATION AND THE ROLE OF SMEs 1. David B. Audretsch and A. Roy Thurik (2001), ‘What’s New About the New Economy? Sources of Growth in the Managed and Entrepreneurial Economies’ 2. Tomás O. Kohn (1997), ‘Small Firms as International Players’ 3. Benjamin Gomes-Casseres (1997), ‘Alliance Strategies of Small Firms’ PART II SMEs AND GLOBAL STRATEGIES 4. Patricia P. McDougall (1989), ‘International Versus Domestic Entrepreneurship: New Venture Strategic Behavior and Industry Structure’ PART III SMEs AND FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT 5. Edith Tilton Penrose (1956), ‘Foreign Investment and the Growth of the Firm’ 6. Masataka Fujita (1995), ‘Small and Medium-sized Transnational Corporations: Salient Features’ 7. Peter J. Buckley (1989), ‘Foreign Investment by Small and Medium Sized Enterprises: The Theoretical Background’ 8. Masataka Fujita (1995), ‘Small and Medium-sized Transnational Corporations: Trends and Patterns of Foreign Direct Investment’ PART IV CLUSTERS AND NETWORKS AS SOURCES OF SME COMPETITIVENESS 9. Michael E. Porter (2000), ‘Locations, Clusters, and Company Strategy’ 10. Hideki Yamawaki (2002), ‘The Evolution and Structure of Industrial Clusters in Japan’ PART V EXPORT STRATEGIES OF SMEs 11. Joachim Wagner (1995), ‘Exports, Firm Size, and Firm Dynamics’ 12. Bee Yan Aw, Geeta Batra and Mark J. Roberts (2001), ‘Firm Heterogeneity and Export-Domestic Price Differentials: A Study of Taiwanese Electronics Products’ 13. Joachim Wagner (2001), ‘A Note on the Firm Size-Export Relationship’ PART VI SMEs AND THE INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT OF LABOR 14. Annalee Saxenian (2001), ‘The Role of Immigrant Entrepreneurs in New Venture Creation’ 15. Anuradha Basu (1998), ‘An Exploration of Entrepreneurial Activity among Asian Small Businesses in Britain’ PART VII SMEs AND TRANSNATIONAL TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER 16. Lorraine Eden, Edward Levitas and Richard J. Martinez (1997), ‘The Production, Transfer and Spillover of Technology: Comparing Large and Small Multinationals as Technology Producers’ 17. Peter J. Buckley (1997), ‘International Technology Transfer by Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises’ PART VIII THE DEVELOPING COUNTRY CONTEXT 18. Brian Levy (1991), ‘Transaction Costs, the Size of Firms and Industrial Policy: Lessons from a Comparative Case Study of the Footwear Industry in Korea and Taiwan’ 19. Mona Haddad, Jaime de Melo and Brendan Horton (1996), ‘Morocco, 1984–89: Trade Liberalization, Exports, and Industrial Performance’ 20. Jeffrey B. Nugent and Seung-Jae Yhee (2002), ‘Small and Medium Enterprises in Korea: Achievements, Constraints and Policy Issues’ 21. Bee Yan Aw and Geeta Batra (1999), ‘Wages, Firm Size, and Wage Inequality: How Much Do Exports Matter?’ PART IX POLICY ISSUES 22. Zoltan J. Acs, Randall Morck, J. Myles Shaver and Bernard Yeung (1997), ‘The Internationalization of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: A Policy Perspective’ 23. Steven J. Davis and Magnus Henrekson (1997), ‘Industrial Policy, Employer Size, and Economic Performance in Sweden’ 24. Ingrid Verheul, Sander Wennekers, David Audretsch and Roy Thurik (2002), ‘An Eclectic Theory of Entrepreneurship: Policies, Institutions and Culture’ Name Index

About the Author :
Edited by David B. Audretsch, Indiana University, US and the Department of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship, University of Klagenfurt, Austria

Review :
'. . . an excellent and timely collection of both conceptual and empirical papers on the subject of the role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the process of globalization. . . this book presents a well-balanced collection of readings on SMEs internationalization and public policy.' 'Today, SMEs need to think about global dimensions of their business earlier than ever, often even before the start of the actual venture. This is a timely book on SMEs that provides a wealth of information about the global context that SMEs are faced with and about the economic dimensions that matter.'