Factors that impact on the perceived benefits of internet international marketing in Taiwanese SMEs

Abstract

Effective management of small or medium-sized enterprises' (SMEs) internet international marketing (IIM) has become a topic of great interest and has been studied extensively by SME researchers. Yet, there is little research that attempts to explain the perceived benefits of IIM, which is considered a critical factor in encouraging SMEs to or blocking them from adopting and using IIM. To address this gap, this paper proposes a theoretical model to examine the SMEs' perceived benefits of IIM in terms of the extent of their global mindsets, electronic commerce (EC) capabilities, organisational marketing contexts and IT capabilities. Empirical testing of the model is based on a sample of 82 SMEs from the Taiwanese manufacturing industry. The results show that six of the eight hypothesised relationships are supported by empirical data. The implications of the findings for the management of SME IIM are discussed.Journal of Targeting, Measurement and Analysis for Marketing (2008) 16, 249–260. doi:10.1057/jt.2008.19 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]