SME's INTERNATIONALIZATION - DRIVERS AND BARRIERS: THE CASE OF THE ROMANIAN ECONOMY

Abstract

This paper attempts to investigate the role of the internationalization process of the SMEs in shaping the domestic economic environment in this peculiar framework. It does this by contextualizing the processes of internationalization, and also the prospects of internalization, for the case of the Romanian economy. Furthermore, we analyze the most important facts available and relevant for the topic and concentrate on the blueprints of the Romanian SME's system. All these preliminary steps converge toward our capital target, namely to identify, reveal and describe in detail the features of the main drivers and barriers that are characteristic of the present day economic life of the Romanian SMEs, as observed within an accelerated internationalization process. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

Headnote

Abstract: This paper attempts to investigate the role of the internationalization process of the SMEs in shaping the domestic economic environment in this peculiar framework. It does this by contextualizing the processes of internationalization, and also the prospects of internalization, for the case of the Romanian economy. Furthermore, we analyze the most important facts available and relevant for the topic and concentrate on the blueprints of the Romanian SME's system. All these preliminary steps converge toward our capital target, namely to identify, reveal and describe in detail the features of the main drivers and barriers that are characteristic of the present day economic life of the Romanian SMEs, as observed within an accelerated internationalization process.

Keywords: SMEs; internationalization; internalization; growth and development; innovation

JEL Code: D21, L25, L53

1. Introduction

Due to the fact that the European economy has faced over the past years a lot of difficulties and challenges, triggered mainly by the recent crisis, the role of the SMEs sector, as a driver of growth throughout the EU, has become more and more important. It is a fact that when it comes to the labor allocation, most of the EU's workforce can be retrieved within this area, while the obviously embedded flexibility would be an invaluable asset at a time when specific "SME buffer zones" as labor shock absorbers, could prove extremely important for the social stability of a given country or even continent. It is also a fact that the current global economic realities have significantly increased the level of international competition for the small entrepreneurs, traditionally camped in the low tech fields, meaning that small companies encounter nowadays many more difficulties on their road to market share achievement, due to the fact that international markets and also the global economic environment have changed dramatically over the last few years, mainly under the impact of the contemporary ICT stampede.

Evaluating the importance of the SME's sector which would be today the No. 1 employer, both at EU level - accounting for more than 98% of all companies and employing in 2012, almost 67% of the total employment3, but also in the peculiar case of the Romanian economy (as an example, the estimates, again for 2012, show that 99.7% of all companies are SMEs, hiring 65,6% of the total employees4), we cannot but assess that this sector sustains a flexible, dynamic, innovative, competitive economic environment along with an increasingly competitive framework for all the economic actors involved. In order to support this statement, we can recall Romanian statistical data which show that in terms of turnover, the SMEs contribute with more than 58% of the total turnover achieved in our domestic economy.5 It seems clear to us that in such a juncture, investigating and drawing pertinent arguments for a better design of the dedicated policies appears to be more important than ever.

2. Main research objectives

The Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan6, a benchmark for the European way of conceiving the framework, underlines and stimulates the potential of the entrepreneurial spirit through its three interventional pillars, namely entrepreneurial education, creation of specific entities and spreading valuable models. In order to evaluate the way in which some of the objectives of the second pillar can provide support the internationalization process, in the case of the Romanian SME companies, we are going to try and find out which are the main obstacles in reaching this outcome and how we can overcome the barriers that jeopardize the chances of the Romanian economy to perform as well as its competitors in this area. By doing so, we are also going to focus our attention on the means that can stimulate the Romanian small businesses in developing various kinds of cross-border activities, but ultimately in order to internalize various sorts of operations as a result of their exposure to the international milieu.

The following chapters of this research focus on the impact of internationalization as observed within the economic environment of the SMEs and its consequences on growth and development. On this path, we reveal the fact that internationalization is actually an open door for internalization of production at a stage when SMEs can undertake higher tech output in their portfolio. Last but not least, and the core of our research from a pragmatic perspective, would be the identification and analysis of the drivers and barriers that push forward or brake the evolution of the Romanian SMEs on their track of becoming more and more internationally exposed.

3. The role of the SME's internationalization process in growth and development

One of the features that illustrate global competitiveness is the internationalization of production, a feature that underlines the interdependent linkages existing between different companies, different countries, or even blocks of countries, a reality that is generating nowadays a very complex and not seldom, fuzzy economic framework, no matter where we are looking around.7 The SMEs internationalization process can embrace today a significantly greater range of forms: exporting, importing, the creation of cross-border alliances, the establishment of operations or offices in other countries etc.8 The internationalization (as well as internalization, as explained below) process should be considered as a core part of the company long term strategy and not only a time framed tactical activity or a side strategy, applicable for a short or medium period of time. Being one of the most important triggering factors for economic growth, the overall economic internationalization process needs to involve important and various resources, capacities and information in order to be effective and ultimately generate an increased level of competitiveness among the participants.9 Eventually, it generates a trend to internalize various economic processes through the SME's framework, as opposed to the extemalization generated by the international operations of most MNCs.

Studying the complex and sometimes rather vaguely defined internalization process, we can rather easily identify a relationship that often occurs between this very process and the level of engagement to the innovation path of the investigated companies. This reality means that in the case of the truly innovative companies (thus able to internalize high tech, even state of the art operations at an obviously larger than average scale of that particular economy), the cross-border activities are by far more present and definitely more lucrative, innovation being today probably the most important factor that can increase the level of economic efficiency and aggregated growth of a specific geographic area.10 Moreover, it is statistically proven that most of these companies can and actually do benefit, in terms of innovation, from the cross-border activities, but only after a relevant administrative and managerial approach towards internalization, enabling them to escape the low added value production context. As a preliminary conclusion, we can state here that all the public policies that are encouraging the internalization process, along with the upgrading of the domain through innovation, could and should be complementary.* 11

11 Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO), Fraunhofer Institut für Systemund Innovationsforschung (ISI), Barriers to internationalisation and growth of EU's innovative companies, Final Report, Viena, 2010, p. The R&D processes are known to be increasing the level of productivity, meaning that the companies that are implicated and determined to increase their level of output as well as their performance, are also going to report while performing international, cross-border activity, at least: innovative products or services; increased efficiency in terms of both quantitative and qualitative terms (expanded exports incorporating more added value); involvement in a more competitive labor market in terms of employment, with benefits concerning both the supply of labor and its skills; better compensation programs and stimuli for the workforce.

A survey carried out by the EU Commission in 2009, i.e. a study focusing on 9,480 companies across 33 countries, bluntly showed that there is an important linkage between internalization and the size and lifespan of the company. While objectively, internationalization tendencies increase along with the growth of the company, meaning that larger companies tend to internationalize more, which is simply common sense, the report also indicated that manufacturing, transport, communication and e-commerce, not exactly SME illustrated sectors, are the most internationalized sectors. A typical fast moving SME will increasingly conduct added value operations domestically and gradually tend to start their cross-border activities by importing, the most common business partners being the EU countries followed by Brazil, India, Russia, China etc.12 Moreover, The EU exports towards these countries identified by a study (Opportunities for internationalization of SMEs ', study conducted by EIM Business and Policy Research and published by the EC in 2011) have reached 261.6 billion Euro, out of which the SME sector accounted for 134.6 billion Euro. The SME exports values of the EU countries are fluctuating between 39% - 62% of the total export activities.13 Internalizing seems the next logical step on the scale of increasing value added and efficiency.

The evaluation of the implementation of the SBA policy measures in terms of internationalization, a strategy that is considered of "high priority", shows that some of the most frequently used measures were: "the coaching of the SMEs by large companies in order to bring them to the international market" and also "providing support to SME network- building".14 In Germany, for instance, SMEs account for 98% of the number of exporters and each region has a development bank that is able to sustain them with development loans.15

4. The internationalization of the SMEs sector. The case of the Romanian economy

EC sources reveal the fact that at the level of investigated countries (EU 27 member states, plus Croatia, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Turkey and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) the internationalization process of the SMEs has the following pattern: more than 40% of the European SMEs are involved in some form of international relations (but only 13% are internationally active outside the Internal Market), 25% of the SMEs within EU 27 are involved in export activities and 29% in import activities, 7% are involved in technological co-operation with a foreign partner, 7% are subcontractors to a foreign partner, 7% have foreign subcontractors and 2% are active in foreign direct investments.16 This outlook, clearly indicating a strong propensity towards "going international" is in fact replicated in most of the developed areas of the world, no matter if border crossing is less easy that for the European context.

The same view, this time focusing on Romania, points to the reality that the country lags significantly behind the EU average in this respect. For instance in 2009, 5.5% of the Romanian SMEs were engaged in export activities (generating 35.4% of the country's total exports, thus generating a significant 10.3 billion EURO!), a percentage which is unfortunately outpaced by the one of the importing SMEs, which reached 17.7% (generating 50.1% of the country's total imports, thus resulting 19.5 billion EURO!).17

The SB A Fact Sheet 2013 indicates that in the case of Romania the trading conditions and the development of the international relations outside the EU market are generating the following results: in 2010, 4% of SMEs are importing from outside de EU (8% - EU average) and only 1% of SMEs are exporting outside the EU market (4% the EU average). In 2013, the average cost required to import a standard batch in Romania was USD 1495 (EU average - USD 1072) and to export USD 1485 (EU average - USD 1004), while the time spent in order to perform the operations was 13 days (EU average -5 days) to import and 12 days (EU average 11) to export. Meanwhile, the amount of documentation required to import -6 (EU average -5) and to export -5 (EU average 4). 18

What do such statistics indicate? If one takes into consideration the recent history of the country and the inherited liability of having a state monopoly over the foreign trade that extended over almost half a century, the retrieval of the lost ground seems quite relevant. But if one looks deeper into the structure of the Romanian exports, as well as imports of the last decade, two conclusions can basically be drawn: no significant players among the SMEs and a lower value added structure of the exports as opposed to imports. A study conducted in 2008 (still a pre-crisis year in Romania!) on a sample of 226 SMEs from the Northwestern Development Region of Romania, shows a high concentration of import activities generated by reasons such as lack of domestic commodities and services while facing a booming demand. But what seems relevant here is their commitment towards exports, not yet developed due to reduced experience in their business, a fact that prevents them from taking higher risks.19 Those SMEs that surfaced the crisis are now exactly in this position if they want to carry on successfully: they should export and meanwhile cope, through internalization, with a more and more sophisticated and expensive foreign market.

5. Drivers and barriers for Romanian SMEs in the internationalization process

The difficult track towards the efficient internationalization of the Romanian SMEs can be classified into two main groups20: the old and still not properly tackled issues (excessive taxation and fiscal controls, bureaucracy, unfair competition with the imported goods, training the employees and consequently retaining the highly trained ones, inadequate infrastructure, etc.) and the new, post-crisis issues (a sharp decrease in domestic demand, delays in the collection of receivables, the high cost of loans and the difficult access to them, the rather high volatility of the exchange rate, the postponed payment of invoices by the public sector etc.). Meanwhile, we can identify significant incentives to export in at least three areas, rather different from the value added perspective but quite well illustrated by SMEs: agriculture (as producers, not traders), automotive industry (as spare parts suppliers) and ICT (service providers and lohn type of operations).

Gradually, other SME sectors will engage the track of internationalization and then hopefully internalization, under proper circumstances. This move will be objectively triggered, in our opinion, by the many links to be spotted between innovation and internationalization. We should underline the fact that basically, all the drivers and all the barriers we have identified are actually specific to both processes (innovation and internationalization) and they cannot act unless they are interconnected, so obviously they should be studied in the same manner. The following present day drivers could be considered as having the potential to generate economic dynamism and consequently growth and development:

Knowledge of general and specific, even niche type of markets; identification of foreign business opportunities through various direct and indirect means; reliable and imaginative foreign permanent representation, not only of the country, but also of the regions and industries; presence at trade events and professional gatherings; professional lobby.

Access to comprehensive information (standards and regulations, market specificities, cultural background); market transparency (or lack of it) and smart use of specific features; property rights protection and juridical status.

Networking for spread of knowledge concerning the technologies available; state of the art technological capabilities, especially in the area of ICT.

Educated, trained, skilled and permanently updated human resources; labor productivity and unitary cost of labor (areas where Romania is lagging behind in terms of both investigating and disseminating information).

Access to adequate financial resources; diminishing by all means the cost of the objective process Investment) of internationalization.

Research and development activities (many of them also linked to the financial framework); implementation of R&D pilots in order to build a niche that would be accessible to SMEs.

Managerial and leadership skills, marketing abilities; international and global market strategy and current planning; general geopolitical and risk assessment.

It is empirically proven that for the case of SMEs, the manager or the direct owner would be the person that plays the main role in determining the strategic decisions, its capabilities, vision and knowledge of the business environment, either domestic or foreign. Being at the very heart of its reactions means that it can easily encounter limitations like: fear of undertaking the necessary risks, not seeking, or even seeking the opportunities, but not making them operational, this person or entity can also be the best barrier investigator. As companies that act properly over a competitive domestic market tend to become internationally active, this fact will shape the situation in which SMEs have international contacts and are more likely to resist at international level.21 So, they appear to be much better prepared to face various kinds of barriers and exogenous setbacks that usually hamper a business going international, especially if we are considering an SME type of business. We have determined the following types of barriers across the Romanian SME's international track:

Governmental protectionism (foreign) combined with lack of own governments' support. The role of government and public institutions, through their policies, is actually determinant for setting the appropriate environment for the local businesses. From this perspective, their objectives should focus on: creating the positive framework in order to stimulate the internationalization process (provide information and incentives, public-private partnerships etc.), reforming the education, building networks, providing financial incentives and assistance, reducing the administrative burden and creating the necessary legal provisions for cross-border activities by encouraging trade and investment etc.22

Non-tariffs barriers - linked to the traditional non-EU destinations (not necessary for a large number of companies, but still valid).

Market entry barriers (financial, technological, cultural, anthropological, social), which an unprepared SME simply cannot cope with.

- Differences among countries, in terms of managerial culture and risk assessment.

- Limited ability to raise capital for penetrating foreign markets.

Flexibility would be an important asset over the domestic market, but it could easily turn into a liability over consolidated foreign markets.

Moreover, the process of internationalization of SMEs should be encouraged through the development of a better informational flow for entrepreneurs in order to be able to better tailor their supply to the needs and standards required on those foreign markets. 23 Without this step, the internalizing of high tech, a significant added value output, does not seem feasible.

6. Conclusions

There is no turning back in the process of internationalization and consequently the Romanian Government should develop and implement the necessary and appropriate policies to promote and facilitate the access of domestic SMEs to foreign markets. This is the pattern that has illustrated the way to prosperity of so many countries and it represents a decent benchmark to be adopted by the legislative framework governing the existence and evolution of SMEs in Romania. We are fully convinced that innovation within the Romanian economic framework in the years to come must be located precisely here, due to the demonstrated correlation between innovation and the level of internationalization.

Just as companies that have managed to become more internationally active represent a more stable ground for the domestic economic environment, through indirect transfer of technologies and know how, those companies which have been able to internalize higher tech output and more competitive products and services are better insulated in front of unpredictable and fluctuating economic evolutions. This situation is significantly enhanced when SMEs are actually creating networks or even clusters of cooperation and technology/information sharing.

Our research, along with all the titles accessed by us, have led us to the conclusion that one of the main liabilities in the process of internationalization of the SMEs would be the lack of proper financing and access to various resources. Without a significant change in the policy governing this area, the gap between the domestic and the international framework in this regard will widen in the years to come and, consequently, the Romanian economy will lose more competitive advantage. It is our purpose to draw the attention towards SMEs, this hotspot of economic dynamism for every economy, Romania's included.

Footnote

3 ECORYS, EU SMEs in 2012: at the crossroads. Annual Report on Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in the EU, 2012, Rotterdam, p. 9, at: [http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/facts-figures-analysis/performancereview/files/supporting-documents/2012/annual-report_en.pdf], 10 January 2013.

4 EC, SBA Fact Sheet 2013 - Romania, 2013, p. 2, at: [http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/facts-figuresanalysis/performance-review/files/countries-sheets/2013/romania_en.pdf], 13 March 2014.

5 Barta P., Modreanu I., Spirea N., Piti M., Raportul fundafiei post-privatizare privind sectorul IMM din România, Fundatia post-privatizare, 2013, p. 59, at: [http://www.postprivatizare.ro/romana/wpcontent/uploads/2013/06/Raport-IMM-2013.pdf|, 24 May 2013.

6 EC, Entrepreneurship 2020 Action Plan, 2013, Brussels, at: [http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2012:0795:FIN:EN:PDF], 10 March 2014.

Footnote

7 Hatzichronoglou T., Globalisation and Competitiveness: Relevant Indicators, in OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers, OECD Publishing, 1996, p. 7, at: [http://www.oecdilibrary.org/docserver/download/51gsjhvj7nlw.pdf? expires=1394977884&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=B BB0D97D54E82B9D2C6B4261C23DC642], 10 March 2014.

Footnote

8 Wilson, K., Chapter 2. Encouraging the internationalization of SMEs, in Promoting Entrepreneurship in South East Europe POLICIES AND TOOLS, OECD Papers, 2007, p.45, at: [http://www.oecd.org/cfe/leed/39872944.pdf], 10 March 2014.

9 EC, Supporting the internalization of SMEs, Final Report of the Expert Group, December 2007, p.4, at: [http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/files/support_measures/intemationalisation/report_intemat_en.pdf], 10 December 2012.

10 Maniu, M.T., Chapter 4. Retele regionale de IMM-uri inovaiionale, in Regionalizare §i inovare. Dezvoltare regionalä prin contribuya firmelor inovative, EFES, Cluj, 2009, pp. 92-119.

Footnote

V, at: [http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/innovation/files/proinno/innovation-intelligence-study-l_en.pdf], 10 December 2012.

12 EC, Internationalisation of European SMEs, 2010, p. 5, at: [http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/marketaccess/files/intemationalisation_of_european_smes_fmal_en.pdf]. 30 April 2013.

13EC, Small business, Big World - a new partnership to help SMEs seize global opportunities, Brussels, 2011, p. 3, at: [http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2011:0702:FIN:EN:PDF], 10 March 2013.

Footnote

14 EC, Progress on the Implementation of SBA in Europe 2012-2013, Summary Paper, SME Performance Review Study, August 2013, pp. 53-54, at: [http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/facts-figuresanalysis/performance-review/files/supporting-documents/2013/summary-paper_en.pdf], 10 March 2013.

15 Edinburgh Group, Growing the Global Economy through SMEs, 2013, p.20, at: [http://www.edinburghgroup.org/media/2776/edinburgh_group_research_-_growing_the_global_economy_through_smes.pdf], 10 March 2013.

16EC, Internationalisation of European SMEs, 2010, p. 5-17, at: rhttp://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/marketaccess/files/intemationalisation of european smes final en.pdfl, 30 April 2013.

17 Pîslaru D., Modreanu I., Contribuya IMM-urilor la creçterea economicé -prezent §i perspective, Bucureçti: Editura Económica, 2012, pp. 96-97, at: [http://facultateademanagement.ro/wpcontent/uploads/StudiuContributia-IMM-urilor-la-cresterea-ec.-DP.pdf], 24 April 2013.

Footnote

18 EC, SBA Fact Sheet 2013 - Romania, 2013, p. 15, at: [http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/factsfigures-analysis/performance-review/files/countries-sheets/2013/romania_en.pdf], 13 March 2014.

19 Negruça A., Ionescu Gh., The Role of Internationalization Activity for the SMEs Development - Case Study for Transilvania region, in International Review of Business Research Papers, Vol. 5, No. 6, November 2009, pp.264-267, at: [http://www.bizresearchpapers.com/20.Adina.pdf], 10 March 2013.

20 Duma F., Developments and Constraints for the Romanian Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, in Proceedings-10th International Conference on Management, Enterprise and Benchmarking (MEB 2012), Budapest, Hungary, 2012, p. 136, at: [http://kgk.uni-obuda.hu/sites/default/files/09_Duma%20Florin.pdf], 10 March 2013.

Footnote

21 Cranmer, R., Factors Influencing the Internationalization of Small and Medium Size Enterprises, in International Business & Economics Research Journal, Vol. 7, No. 12, 2008, pp. 46-47.

22 Wilson, K., Chapter 2. Encouraging the internationalization of SMEs, in Promoting Entrepreneurship in South East Europe POLICIES AND TOOLS, OECD Papers, 2007, pp. 53-55, at: [http://www.oecd.org/cfe/leed/39872944.pdf], 10 March 2014

Footnote

23 Racolta-Paina N.D., Burcä-Voicu M.I., The Competitiveness of SMEs in the EU Member States. Challenges and Lessons Ahead for Romania, in Studia Europaea, No. 3/2013, 2013, p. 52.

References

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13. Hatzichronoglou T., (1996), Globalisation and Competitiveness: Relevant Indicators, in OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers, OECD Publishing, to: [http://www.oecdilibrary.org/docserver/download/51gsjhvj7nlw.pdf?expires= 1395402717&id=id&accname=g uest&checksum=08A472153E49DD0F9AEFB7CAF7E20FC2], 10 December 2012.

14. Maniu, M.T., (2009), Regionalizare §i inovare. Dezvoltare regionalä prin contribuya flrmelor inovative. EFES, Cluj, 2009. See Chapter 4 - Regele regionale de IMM-uri inovajionale, pp. 92-119.

15. Negruna A., Ionescu Gh., (2009) The Role of Internationalization Activity for the SMEs Development - Case Study for Transilvania Region, in International Review of Business Research Papers, Vol. 5, No. 6, November 2009, pp. 261-268, to: [http://www.bizresearchpapers.com/20.Adina.pdf], 10 March 2013.

16. Pîslaru D., Modreanu Ileana, (2012), Contribuya IMM-urilor la creçterea economicä prezent §i perspective, Bucureçti: Editura Economicä, to: [http://facultateademanagement.ro/wp-content/uploads/Studiu_Contributia-IMM-urilor-lacresterea-ec.-DP.pdf], 24 April 2013.

17. Racolta-Paina N.D., Burcä-Voicu M.I. (2013), The Competitiveness of SMEs in the EU Member States. Challenges and Lessons Ahead for Romania, in Studia Europaea, No. 3/2013, pp. 35-57.

18. Wilson, K., (2007), Chapter 2. Encouraging the internationalization of SMEs. Promoting Entrepreneurship in South East Europe POLICIES AND TOOLS, OECD Papers, pp. 43-66, to: [http://www.oecd.org/cfe/leed/39872944.pdf], 10 March 2014.