Review on the Effect of SME’s Entrepreneurship on Firm’s Growth and Globalization Strategy

Most of domestic small and medium-sized firms consider globalization only as an option. Since their customer groups are mostly natives, defending domestic market is prioritized over globalization. Such passive strategies, however, are driven by defending management mindset focusing only on short-term goals, resulting in confinements to domestic market even though firms are aware of needs to globalize. Slowdown of growth or retrogression due to the limits of domestic market is inescapable when confined. Aggressive internationalization and securing global competitiveness through entrepreneurship is required to overcome these negative cycles. This research first inquires existing studies and theories on entrepreneurship and internationalization, analyzing current situation and achievements of domestic medium-sized firms based on those inquiries. Examples of Genesis and Lotteria in domestic market as well as AFP Provida and Atlas Electrica in Latin America are provided. Also direct comparison between domestic and foreign companies is provided by looking into Basic House and Forever21, with examples of HuMax of Korea and Logitech of Switzerland. This research presents strategies for management, especially for small and medium-sized firms, by categorizing success factors of internationalizing into three domains; managers, core competencies, and global strategies. Implications on much-needed entrepreneurship and management attitudes based on business strategy theories can also be gained from this research. On practical side, firms’ performance can be reviewed through discussing globalization needs and strategic alternatives of domestic firms. Implications on policies to encourage entrepreneurship are suggested as well. Defining entrepreneurship from the view of business strategy, and integration of theories in business strategy with international management will be the academic value of this research. Issues and scope of further studies are provided on the final pages.