Journal Press India^®

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In an ever changing global business environment, internationalisation has emerged as an integral part of small business's strategy. Many small organisations have internationalised or are in the process of doing it. However, in the context of emerging economies, the process is not always as smooth as is expected and is affected by factors, often referred to as barriers. The objective, therefore, of this paper is to develop the relationships among the identified internationalisation barriers and to assess if these barriers can better explain the SMEs decision to internationalise or not. Further, this paper is also helpful in understanding the mutual influences of these barriers on the overall internationalisation process. Interpretive Structural Modelling methodology is used to understand the relationship between these barriers. The driving and dependence power of these barriers is also examined. This paper is first of its kind using ISM to highlight the relationship between the internationalisation barriers. The paper concludes with a discussion about the implications for the SMEs.

Keywords

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs); internationalisation; barriers.

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