No abstract

Based on the practical experiences of the authors through their work on a LEONARDO project, this paper focuses on the internationalisation process within small and medium sized enterprises and in particular, the key role of the attitudes and behaviour of the owner-manager. The paper argues that the owner-manager largely determines the behavioural characteristics of SMEs, and that in turn these behavioural characteristics are determined by the cultural orientation of the owner-manager. To illustrate the key issues involved, a conceptual model, the internationalisation web, has been developed. This conceptual model can be used to understand the policy implications that emerge from the arguments and to extrapolate relevant policy recommendations aimed at improving the efficiency of the support provided to SMEs wishing to operate in foreign markets.

Purpose -The purpose of this research is to assess the place of language skills in the international orientation of decision-makers of successfully internationalised SMEs. The position of language skills in this area of literature and policy is problematic and a new paradigm is proposed. Design/methodology/approach -This paper considers findings from an empirical project using both quantitative and qualitative methods, first, a 1,200 company telephone survey and second, an 80 company batch of face-to-face interviews. Findings -Strong international orientation seems indeed to be a determinant of success in international trade. The decision-makers of the successful companies were notably more likely to have foreign language skills than those in the other groups and were also the only group to include self-reported skills at the highest level. However, comparison of the countries in which the firms were dealing with the languages in which decision-makers claimed skills shows very clearly that the decision-makers of the "successful" international companies were often not using their foreign language skills in business. In addition, these decision-makers also possessed better attitudes towards foreign experience and other elements of international orientation. Practical implications -The paper discusses the implications of the findings for policy-makers responsible for training and trainers themselves. The evidence supports the view that government subsidies focusing on language training might be better directed at a more varied range of activities to develop international orientation. Originality/value -The article contributes to the development of qualitative research in this area in examining the foreign language use of decision-makers in successful international SMEs and locating this within their broader international orientation. It posits that language skills make an indirect contribution to overall international business success which is more valuable than their direct contribution to improved communication with specific foreign clients and markets.

This paper explores the challenges involved in the development of coordinated management consulting services for small and medium‐sized international companies in the East of England. This paper synthesises the findings of recently published quantitative and qualitative research to identify the characteristics of small to medium‐sized enterprises seeking to trade internationally. The provision of coordinated and funded consulting services for these companies will require skills and marketing tools development for advisers and consultants. The region's success in achieving its economic targets will be assessed in terms of its inherent features and emerging strategies to move from service based on the information paradigm to those based on the consultancy paradigm.

This paper focuses on a study of Tesco Plc conducted in 2011, in which we trained a multicultural team of nine Asian managers to become in-house ethnographers of Tesco UK for a 3-month period studying 52 stores in the UK with dual objectives of helping Tesco (1) to understand and evaluate the core practices that comprised the essence of Tesco's home country advantage, and (2) to identify sources of learning from Tesco's foreign subsidiaries to aid in reinvigorating its core in light of increasing competition in its home market. We believe that the strategic and training dimensions of this project constitute a new contribution to the field of organisational ethnography, particularly with regard to the use of a multinational ethnographic team of nonnative speakers of English.