The Internationalization of SMEs within the medical technology industry. : -How to make it in the global world
Abstract: The world gets smaller and smaller and goods, services, people and information are nowadays more and more able to freely cross borders. Half of the Swedish GNP consists of export and almost 70 % of that amount is goods. Because of today’s increasing globalization, the Swedish firms are now faced with both new opportunities and threats. Firms can no longer afford to entirely focus on the domestic market. For the firm, who are willing to act on the international market, the numbers of different ways to go are many but also different depending on the firm’s conditions. Earlier studies have shown upon differences in internationalization depending on product and market condition. The purpose of this thesis is to create a deeper understanding of SMEs internationalization process within the medical technology industry. The author’s stress that the purpose of this thesis is not to come up with a clear guide of how firms should internationalize within the medical technology industry, the goal is to reach a better understanding of the subject. To fulfill the purpose, the authors have formulated two questions they intend to answer: What are the reasons for internationalization within the medical technology industry and what possible obstacles could be of importance? Which factors can explain the internationalization process of firms within the medical technology industry?Different firms have different internationalization process due to the fact that different marketing contexts influence a firm’s globalization. Within this process there are many major decisions that have to be taken and obstacles may cause problems on the way. The access of information about how a certain firm or sector, which a firm can identify with, carried out their internationalization could then be of great value. The major internationalization theories reveal how firms in general internationalize. However, since different circumstances affect firm’s globalization a high level of generalization can be hard to achieve. This is in no way surprising since the circumstances are a crucial factor and every internationalization process should be examined from its own conditions The medical technology industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. The medical technology industry in Europe consist of over 80% SMEs, the high rate of competition creates a highly innovative and fast growing industry. The high rate of SMEs within the industry makes it suitable for studying the internationalization of SMEs. The Swedish medical technology industry employs a great number of people and has an export of 14 billion SEK annually, the future prospect implies that this number will increase. However, the research within the medical technology industry has in the 21th century been limited and further studies are essential to understand how and why firms within this industry internationalize.The result showed that firms within this industry have to go international to survive due to the fact that the Swedish market is too easily saturated. The study also showed thatinternationalization within this industry has some characteristically obstacles. Laws, regulations, certification and cultural differences were the biggest obstacles for the firm’s internationalization. The study reveals that the firm´s attitude toward these problems and their willingness to get out on the international market has a big impact on their internationalization process.The world gets smaller and smaller and goods, services, people and information are nowadays more and more able to freely cross borders. Half of the Swedish GNP consists of export and almost 70 % of that amount is goods. Because of today’s increasing globalization, the Swedish firms are now faced with both new opportunities and threats. Firms can no longer afford to entirely focus on the domestic market. For the firm, who are willing to act on the international market, the numbers of different ways to go are many but also different depending on the firm’s conditions. Earlier studies have shown upon differences in internationalization depending on product and market condition. The purpose of this thesis is to create a deeper understanding of SMEs internationalization process within the medical technology industry. The author’s stress that the purpose of this thesis is not to come up with a clear guide of how firms should internationalize within the medical technology industry, the goal is to reach a better understanding of the subject. To fulfill the purpose, the authors have formulated two questions they intend to answer: What are the reasons for internationalization within the medical technology industry and what possible obstacles could be of importance? Which factors can explain the internationalization process of firms within the medical technology industry?Different firms have different internationalization process due to the fact that different marketing contexts influence a firm’s globalization. Within this process there are many major decisions that have to be taken and obstacles may cause problems on the way. The access of information about how a certain firm or sector, which a firm can identify with, carried out their internationalization could then be of great value. The major internationalization theories reveal how firms in general internationalize. However, since different circumstances affect firm’s globalization a high level of generalization can be hard to achieve. This is in no way surprising since the circumstances are a crucial factor and every internationalization process should be examined from its own conditions The medical technology industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. The medical technology industry in Europe consist of over 80% SMEs, the high rate of competition creates a highly innovative and fast growing industry. The high rate of SMEs within the industry makes it suitable for studying the internationalization of SMEs. The Swedish medical technology industry employs a great number of people and has an export of 14 billion SEK annually, the future prospect implies that this number will increase. However, the research within the medical technology industry has in the 21th century been limited and further studies are essential to understand how and why firms within this industry internationalize.The result showed that firms within this industry have to go international to survive due to the fact that the Swedish market is too easily saturated. The study also showed thatinternationalization within this industry has some characteristically obstacles. Laws, regulations, certification and cultural differences were the biggest obstacles for the firm’s internationalization. The study reveals that the firm´s attitude toward these problems and their willingness to get out on the international market has a big impact on their internationalization process.
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