Alberto Brugnoli

Barriers to the Internationalization of SMEs: An Analysis from the Perspective of Support Service Providers

The internationalization process of small firms is subject to a number of constraints and bottlenecks. Academics and research institutions have devoted special attention to the issue of barriers to exporting for SMEs. Studies on export barriers for SMEs have been usually approached from the perspective of the firm, but they have rarely taken into consideration the perspective of support service providers. Studies on internationalization support programs have mostly focussed on export promotion programs (EPP) and export sup-port services (ESS), and have taken the perspective of either the receiving firm in a micro-economic/business perspective or the institution involved in a macro-economic perspective. We find a research gap in the analysis of barriers to internationalization as seen by the service providers (both public and private), which could throw new light on the micro-foundations of these barriers and of the related policies and services to support the international growth of small firms, in particular, in the exporting field (Inkpen and Beamish, 1997; Brugnoli and Molteni, 2007).