The role of the Internet in enhancing the internationalization of SMEs

This paper examines internationalization processes in the context of the Internet economy and presents some exploratory insights. Firstly, the impact of Internet in internationalization of SMEs including: Internet provides marketing intelligence, global sales promotion and communications, and enhances the production efficiency. But Internet is a limited tool for SMEs that intend to penetrate foreign markets. And we can say that SMEs using the Internet as a sole vehicle to internationalize their activities will not be able to capitalize on much of the sales potential in foreign markets. The transparency of prices is a major aspect of the Internet that makes life difficult for SMEs. So, the Internet exposes SMEs to increased global competition in foreign markets. Secondly, the Internet doesn‟t expose internationalizing SMEs to lower transaction cost in all our cases. Thirdly, the Internet‟s influence on SMEs internationalization is limited by legal issues in foreign markets. Finally, the Internet is particularly appealing for SMEs, removing or reducing some of the traditional barriers they faced in doing business overseas, such as communications costs, long distances and market entry risks. Keyword:Internet, Internet-commerce, internationalization, small and medium enterprise (SME)