Internationalization as a strategy for small and medium‐sized enterprises and the impact of regulatory environment: An emerging country perspective

Abstract

AbstractThis study focuses on identification, categorization and comparison of regulatory barriers to internationalization for the small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) from an emerging market context. Primary data were collected to develop and validate a structural model to assess the salient regulatory barriers of internationalization with a particular attention to the SMEs in Bangladesh. Structured questionnaire has been used to collect data from 212 SMEs operating in Bangladesh. The results indicate that both administrative and economic regulatory barriers are significant for the internationalization of SMEs whereby administrative regulatory barriers are slightly more substantial. This study provides further discussion from both theoretical and methodological aspects. By developing and validating structural model, this study contributes to the literature on small business and regulation with particular attention to the emerging markets.