Network/Social Ties and Supply Chain Links

Network/Social Ties and Supply Chain Links.

A number of recent studies have highlighted the importance of network/social ties and supply chain links in triggering SMEs‟ first internationalization step and extending internationalization processes. Both North American studies particularly reported the stimulating effect on export activity of firms ‟ soft assets, including social and network capital, some of which may have accrued through managers‟ immigrant background and associated links. The study among fish exporters from the Azores Islands, an autonomous Portuguese archipelago in the North Atlantic, some 900 miles from the European mainland, highlighted the importance of family and social ties with emigrant communities in global markets in driving SME internationalization (see Boxes 3 and 4)These include research among American, Australian, Canadian and Portuguese businesses. Kocker and Buhl also observed that taking advantage of collaborative links is a common motive among the firms they investigated across ten OECD countries.
Finally, it is important to mention the value of the linkages back to their birth countries that migrants can bring in arranging exporting opportunities [OECD CFE/SME(2008)5/PART1/REV1].