The impact of international SME profiles on the mobilisation of network information sources

摘要

In this article, we attempt to show the specificities from network exchanges of information in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) through their internationalisation process. On the basis of a typological study and a discriminant analysis conducted with 102 industrial SMEs of different nationalities, we have evaluated the level of information exchange related to each profile of international development identified in the literature about SMEs. It results from the analysis of the obtained data that there is no increase of information exchange between SMEs before they reach an advanced phase of international development. A significant increase in these exchanges takes place between the transition and the advanced engagement phases along the process. In addition, the interpretation of the results from the discriminant analysis shows that the interest of SMEs in transition rests in the exchanges with the formal sources of information (also known as support). It marginalises the informal exchanges with the traditional sources of market and industry (clients, suppliers, etc.). This is quite- useful in the pre-engagement phase, which leaves unchanged the global level of exchanges before arriving to a quite advanced phase of development.