Internet-enabled international marketing: A small business network perspective

Many small businesses in the 1990s are compelled to compete beyond their comfort zone (local markets) due to the globalization and internationalization of the marketplace. At the same time, the commercialization of the Internet has created unprecedented opportunities for small businesses to engage in national and international marketing campaigns which could have been unaffordable due to the huge amount of resources required. This paper discusses why the Internet is particularly important for small business international marketing. It then investigates how small business network exchange can be initiated and supported using the Internet, which in turn provides a platform for international marketing. It abo explores strategies for carrying out marketing activities on the Internet, considering the different kinds of inter-organizational relationships that exist within small business networks. Finally, it is argued that marketing is only one aspect of how small business networks can gain strategic advantage in using the Internet. The fundamental issue is to build useful inter-organizational systems to support not only marketing activities among small businesses on the Internet but also to transform activities on different parts of the small business value chain.