Drivers of success and failure in international collaboration between small and medium-sized enterprises from highly dissimilar markets

Abstract

International markets have created significant opportunities for SMEs from all parts of the world. These opportunities occur in contexts significantly dissimilar to the home markets of the SMEs. Lack of market and culture specific knowledge and missing resources are potential barriers to success. Collaboration between SMEs located in emerging and highly developed markets might be a resort. Literature on international collaboration of SMEs is fragmented and scarce. Academic knowledge on why SMEs develop collaborative relationships in highly dissimilar markets, and how they can establish effective relationships is missing. This research aims to fill the gap by an in-depth-analysis of cases of intercontinental collaboration between European and Chinese SMEs, based on a resource-based theoretical framework combined with empirical evidence from research on inter-organizational collaboration.