ethnocentric rather than geocentric orientation; short rather than long term
perspectives; the view that exporting is too risky, “not for us”, “too much
trouble”, “someone else’s problem” and so on. Operational barriers refer to the
problems encountered by SMEs in dealing with export paperwork,
documentation, language problems, delays in payment etc. Organizational
barriers arise from having limited resources available to devote to the export
effort and the limited international experience of most SMEs. Product/market
barriers relate to the suitability (or lack of suitability) of the firm’s product or
service for foreign markets and the country selection decision.
The Internet does not provide a panacea for such problems. However, used
effectively, it can be a very powerful tool to assist SMEs in overcoming the main
barriers experienced, resulting in more rapid internationalization. This is
shown in Table V which extends the conceptual model presented in the
previous section to include the main advantages which SMEs can derive from
an effective Internet strategy and the way in which these can help to overcome
the internationalization obstacles experienced. Thus, the use of the Net for
market intelligence and to support international networking can lead to a more
positive, geocentric orientation towards the strategic importance of
international markets. Electronic trading can overcome many of the operational
barriers relating to paperwork and export documentation, with Singapore’s
TradeNet system being a very good example (Turbin et al., 1996). The
establishment and proper marketing of a Web homepage can be used to
overcome the product suitability/country market selection decision allowing