Grouping industry players together in clusters can be an effective
way of giving small businesses access to foreign markets, according to
the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), a European Commission service.
Small businesses traditionally struggle to make inroads into foreign markets due to cultural barriers and marketing costs. However, SMEs have a better chance of selling their products and services overseas if they are part of a larger package of regional expertise.
Nicoletta Marchiandi, who will speak about the internationalisation of SMEs at a 9 March meeting of the Enterprise Europe Network's Steering and Advisory Group in the European Parliament, said that relatively few SMEs have any export experience, but markets like China, India and Russia are crucial for dynamic SMEs.
"For SMEs, it's impossible to access big buyers unless they are within a specific cluster. They face the language barrier and often don't know how to get information on foreign markets," she told EurActiv.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Enterprise 'clusters' seen as foreign springboard for SMEs | EurActiv
Author: EurActiv
