SME internationalisation in smaller towns

Abstract

This qualitative dissertation is based on four inter-related studies that explore how small and medium-sized enterprises based in the geographic location of small and mediumsized towns (SMSTs) internationalise. This spatial context is an under-researched area in international entrepreneurship and international business studies and addresses numerous calls for spatially contextualised research. My investigation utilises a multi-study, progressive focusing methodology design. The four studies contained here examine how dimensions of the spatial context at hand, highlighted by place-based themes related to embeddedness and social capital, are influenced by the macro-level impact of digitalisation and the micro-level and fundamental role played by individuals. These themes and concomitant findings demonstrate how entrepreneurial ecosystems are shaped in smaller-town contexts, augmented by digitalisation and key ecosystem agents who open up pathways to global experts and markets. The first study proffers a structured literature review highlighting key themes in SMST entrepreneurship, which I explore through the dimensions of people, context, value creation, and opportunity. The second study moves to explore a place-based approach, introducing the novel concept of ‘digitally-enabled knowledge-borrowing’ by illustrating how enabling digital technologies can enhance regional absorptive capacity and competitive advantages. The third study highlights how a multi-phase approach of opportunity formation can help SMEs overcome the liabilities of locational smallness by combining social capital with digital tools. Finally, the fourth study investigates the role of ‘tall poppy’ entrepreneurs as key ecosystem agents who serve in the dual roles of knowledge brokers and entrepreneurial ecosystem shapers, thereby catalysing firms’ internationalisation through bonding and bridging social capital. Overall, the findings of my dissertation address the role played by individuals as being key to firms’ internationalisation process; extend current IB theory related to absorptive capacity; build on regional studies theories related to agglomeration and borrowing size; and advance empirical contributions to international entrepreneurship studies by addressing extant calls for a more spatially contextualised type of research.