Indirect export: A pitfall for internationalizing Chinese SMEs ? China ...

The emerging market of China is not only the second largest recipient of inward foreign direct investment (FDI) following the US. A rapidly increasing level of outward FDI is also seen, being driven by an overheated domestic market and governmental policies such as the ?Go abroad?-policy stated by the Chinese government in 2001. Despite smaller decreases during the recent global recession, FDI from China is all time high and increased with 20 percent from 2009 to 2010. China then surpassed Japan and became the fifth largest country in the world on outward FDI. Still there is a surplus of investments since the inward investments are 1,5 times higher than the outward FDI. A majority of the outward direct investments are undertaken by larger, government-supported multinational corporations. Such firms and their investments were marginally affected by the recent global recession, while the growing exports of smaller privately owned Chinese firms within low-tech industries were more severely hit by the crisis. As a result, these firms restructured and now focus on the domestic market. But what challenges are met for such firms to manage international expansion in the future?

Many private-owned Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are located within industrial clusters for production of consumer goods such as toothbrushes, textile or electrical components. Here they become sub-suppliers to a few larger companies, often referred to as captain companies, which conduct the foreign sales. Thus, the SMEs are indirect exporters selling via domestic intermediaries, thus having limited contact with foreign markets. This is seen as a major obstacle for their further internationalization. Key to handle future international expansion is knowledge and experience of branding and how to sell their products directly to foreign markets. Through the co-location and co-operation in the clusters the firms have the possibility to learn from more experienced firms; through this they could collect general internationalization knowledge to spur their own take off. However, mere co-location does not seem to be enough when there are no formal intentions within the cluster to facilitate international take off by the firms. Instead of making use of joint resources, firms have to operate individually and then they need to find a way to get pass the pitfall of indirect export.

As indirect export involves less risk and costs it is often utilized in the early stages of internationalization, which is the stage in which most Chinese SMEs are positioned since they only had the opportunity to internationalize since the opening up of the market in the 1980s-1990s. In comparison the utilization of domestic intermediaries, trading houses and fairs is less common in mature markets such as Sweden, since it was outdated for efficiency reasons based on the limited access to foreign market and customers. Using domestic firms for international sales does not provide the exporter with any international relationships or experiences. Thereby it is seen to represent a paradox of experiential knowledge, and it also hinders the establishment of international relationships. With no or scarce interaction with foreign customers, the firm will not accumulate any experiential knowledge which is gained from interactions with foreign actors. Instead, Chinese SMEs with indirect export become dependent on their domestic business network as a provider of knowledge and international contacts. In order to reach continued international growth and increased international competitiveness Chinese SMEs need to build up direct relationships with the foreign market. Either through (1) exporting via an intermediary in the foreign market (agent or distributor). Then the customer relationship is still indirect but the firm gets access to market-specific experiential knowledge by interacting with the foreign intermediary. Or through (2) establishing a sales office or production unit abroad (FDI), creating a direct relationship to the foreign customer in the host market.

While indirect export is less risky and costly, direct customer relationships in the foreign market is the most resource-demanding kind of foreign entry since it involves FDI. At the same time, it is advantageous in terms of giving the highest relationship commitment and knowledge accumulation. One way to achieve this for resource-poor Chinese SMEs is collective internationalization, being a new route to internationalization involving Chinese wholesale and retail market platforms abroad, localized for example in Warsaw, Budapest or Dubai. Through either buying or renting one of hundreds of small booths at the platform, a foreign sales office is established through which the firm can create a position in the foreign market business network. Thereby, the trap of indirect export is avoided. A note though; when internationally inexperienced Chinese SMEs go abroad they need to handle the institutional differences between home and host market since these affect the relationship building with the customers in the foreign market. Such distance is reduced through joint learning, economy of scale and scope, and shared risks and uncertainty offered by the market platform. Successful examples of market platforms in Europe were seen to be located in places populated by a Chinese Diaspora, since it offers an extant business network to connect into.

In summary; as a result of the global recession the ongoing expansion of exports by Chinese SMEs faced a rapid decline. But being established in the world?s largest emerging market with a continuous strong economic growth, the home market became an evident substitute. But with future up-swings, international markets should again be an attractive route to growth of Chinese SMEs. The challenge is then to get pass the pitfall of indirect export hindering the accumulation of essential international experience, here the SMEs need to learn how to be competitive in foreign markets and also to establish direct contacts with foreign actors. The importance of the collective character of the Chinese business life for the internationalizing SME is visible, both in a domestic and international perspective, through the dependence on clusters and networks as a way to create a somewhat stabile environment within the rapidly changing business world.

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Susanne Sandberg
PhD International Marketing, Linnaeus University

The ideas brought forward above are based on my thesis: Internationalization processes of small and medium-sized enterprises: Entering and taking off from emerging markets (Sandberg, 2012). Here the international take off by Chinese SMEs is covered through in-depth studies of five Chinese SMEs in the Yangtze River Delta and four Chinese market platforms in China and Europe. Further research on challenges regarding future growth by Chinese firms will be undertaken within the China-Sweden Management Research Center, a collaboration between the Linnaeus University in Sweden and the Zhejiang University in China launched in March 2012.

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