All in the Family

Globalization and SMEs challenges and opportunities

Internationalization through outward investment by developing country firms 5

I. GLOBALIZATION AND THE CHANGING NATURE OF ENTERPRISES AND COMPETITION

Indian firms, including SMEs, also faced competition from abroad as a result of globalization.

3. At the core of this vision of the globalized economy is the enterprise whether micro, small, medium or large in scale.

The main concern of the EDB was and still is to attract foreign (preferably global) firms to invest in Singapore.

I. Globalization and the changing nature of enterprises and competition 3 7

Six of the worlds' top 10 grocery retailers are from the United States, and four of these do not operate outside home territory.

Regional and global players What drives companies to invest abroad?

Globalization may reinforce traditional relations of dominance between firms.

All these applications enable companies to participate more effectively in the local, national and global economy.

And it was a speaking event in front of groups of entrepreneurs from around the world.

The company went public two years later and is today one of the best known companies in the world.

First among these challenges is that, as major global firms speed up the process of innovation in processes and products so as to maintain, and eventually expand, their technological lead vis à vis newcomers, the latter, particularly those in developing countries, are under pressure to keep up and accelerate the process of technological absorption and innovation, whether through in house capabilities or through the establishment of appropriate inter firm linkages.

Enterprise partnerships involving both local and foreign firms can help African enterprises achieve competitiveness in regional and global markets.

Also during the year, the Global Compact stepped up its efforts with respect to engaging the financial markets.

Section II Telecommunications and the globalization of international trade A vital role for SMEs

And there we worked with leading CEOs on African issues, and African companies on turnarounds, making the companies not just the best in Africa but the best globally.

As described above, according to the GEM model, policies need to evolve in accordance with an economy or region's stage of development.

Tthe web site www.shopmicro.org, which is selling products made by microfinance clients, and the Additionally, more than 30 countries are participating in the Global Micro entrepreneurship Awards programme, which organizes contests to identify and honour low income entrepreneurs.

In other words, SMEs from Singapore remain interested in regional markets rather than global markets.

Firms need to construct global innovation networks to coordinate the dispersed and disintegrated innovation value chain.

Global value chains as a way to upgrade the capabilities

Monopolistic or oligopolistic firms would continue to dominate the global ICT sector.

Section II Telecommunications and the globalization of international trade A vital role for SMEs 7

It must be inserted consistently into the global news cycle and news pool.

Special attention will be paid to assessing the synergy between cluster development, business linkages and access by SMEs in developing countries to global value chains.

The process of globalization had largely affected the business environment for SMEs, and it was becoming increasingly important for firms to become internationally competitive, if they were to survive.

Trade facilitation reduced barriers to the participation of SMEs in trade, increased employment and allowed entrepreneurs to become partners in the globalization and liberalization of trade.

UNCTAD's work on enterprise internationalization, as well as on clusters and global value chains, was particularly relevant to the integration of African companies into the global economy, while work on technical assistance and capacity building supported the development of African entrepreneurship.

SMEs from Singapore remain interested in regional markets rather than global markets but the larger enterprises are investing as farafield as in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Generally, developing country SMEs are not well prepared, and few of them today are in a position to benefit from globalization.

Global value chains as a way to upgrade the capabilities of domestic SMEs 10

In conclusion, evidence shows that participating in global value chains opens up new opportunities for SMEs to gainfully integrate into the global economy.

Lastly, the third type of links are structural links which involve complete mergers of enterprises or the absorption of enterprises by other enterprises.

However, small businesses such as hotels have often been excluded from global tourism distribution channels.

42. The actions described above will contribute to foster the active participation in international trade of SMEs worldwide.

The panellist from the UN Global Compact introduced the Global Compact and the way it approached the issue of CSR.

It is, therefore, relevant to see what kind of strategies are followed by enterprises that contribute to the diversification of the economy, the factors that affect their decisions, and the importance of inter firm relations, including the place of such firms in the global commodity chains and industrial clusters.

This programme is aimed at more advanced medium sized and small enterprises seeking to achieve international competitiveness, and is therefore concentrated on linking SMEs to larger enterprises and integrating them into broader global value chains.

The International Small Enterprise Programme and the Global Programme on Occupational Safety and Health and Environment will both have important implications for enhancing the quantity and quality of employment for women.

This is the first company in the world to develop and manufacture educational robots. After graduating from university, 23 year old Xiao Xu

The days when SMEs needed to become big players before embarking on international expansion seem to be over this is one of the main results of globalization.

Dialogue between governments, business and non governmental organizations will help promote fair globalization.