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Internationalization of African SMEs: Context, Trends and Challenges

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  • Hamza El Guili

    (University of Abdelmalek Essaadi, Tangier, Morocco)

Abstract

There has been an important increase in the international and inter-continental operations of African SMEs over the last decade, because of the emergence of regional “champions†, able to compete with foreign multinationals, present in the continent since many decades, but also because of the emergence of innovative and creative SMEs, capable to meet the market needs of various consumers of Africa. Understanding the particular international business landscape in Africa draws attention to several ignored research questions and research aspects, requiring further research and exploration, to contextualize the SMEs’ internationalization of African firms. This paper highlights relevant areas/aspects needed while studying the internationalization of SMEs, by bringing back the historical context of the continent. Next, this paper contributes to the understanding of the internationalization of African SMEs by analyzing the trends and opportunities of the research in this field. Finally, the challenges and the risks of the internationalization of African firms will be analyzed, in order to set the limits of the nature of internationalization of the continent’s SMEs.

Suggested Citation

  • Hamza El Guili, 2018. "Internationalization of African SMEs: Context, Trends and Challenges," Proceedings of the 11th International RAIS Conference, November 19-20, 2018 020HG, Research Association for Interdisciplinary Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:smo:jpaper:020hg
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    7. Nasraldin Omer & Elco Van Burg & Ricardo M. Peters & Kobus Visser, 2015. "Internationalization As A "Work-Around" Strategy: How Going Abroad Can Help Smes Overcome Local Constraints," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 20(02), pages 1-22.
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    Cited by:

    1. Musa Abdu & Babangida Muhammad Musa & Adamu Jibir, 2022. "Firm-level study of the drivers of internationalization of small- and medium-scale enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 2(6), pages 1-25, June.

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    Keywords

    Africa; SMEs; emerging markets; firms internationalization;
    All these keywords.

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