The internationalization of SMEs in Malta : a critical assessment in the context of five European island regions

Abstract

This chapter will document the specific challenges that affect the internationalization of small-scale enterprises based on a small island jurisdiction (Malta). Dealing with small, discrete numbers; experiencing economic booms and busts; spawning companies which wield significant leverage by virtue of being modestly large; not to mention the structuring difficulties of operating viable manufacturing activities . . . all these are issues which are not unique to Malta but are faced by other small island jurisdictions, since they are economic consequences of smallness and insularity. Thus, in this chapter, the analysis of the Malta situation will proceed from the perspective and vantage point of ‘comparative island studies’ (for example, Biagini and Hoyle, 1999; Baldacchino, 2004); drawing on recent fieldwork on the challenges facing small businesses from a number of different European island regions. The chapter argues that the successful internationalization of locally owned firms benefits handsomely from a thorough, qualitative analysis of successfully internationalized firms, scrutinized from a comparative perspective. It concludes with some learning nuggets, listing features that are deemed pertinent to successful SME internationalization in the small island scenario.