I agree, but they have to identify a product or service that lend themselves to a small business and in a world of today, which includes giants such as Amazon, survival can be challenging.

Small business owner's can survive in competition by being innovative, ensuring expected level of quality, adapting new technology, relationship management, avoiding wasteful expenditure, ethical behaviour etc.

There are several drivers to compete in international markets. You can check relevant studies and sure that you will found a key answer that ''lack of financial capital, resources, skills and technology can hinder their entry into international markets''

This is sad but it is the reality. It is the question I wish all business schools around Africa are answering or offering meaningful solutions to. This must be tackled if African entrepreneurs want to stay relevant in the global business arena. It is not only international business statistics. In all the useful statistics which are an index of performance and status, African countries (with a few exceptions) have come to accept ‘their place’ as the ‘not so serious’ ones. This is a grim assessment but it is what one does when one is no longer complacent and is searching for real solutions.

However, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The context is Africa South of the Sahara. I call the region West, East, Central and Southern (WECS) Africa, not SSA. Do people of WECS Africa mostly prefer made in Africa products or foreign made products and services? This is a socio-political problem as much as it is a marketing question. We may find pockets of excellence here and there but the overall scenario is not great. The performance is mediocre, to put it mildly.

How can the internationalization gap be bridged?

First, as an example, don’t abandon nutritious brown/black African rice for imported perfumed white rice with little nutritional value. When you respect local products, they will find international relevance. Charity begins at home. Therefore, if small WECS African businesses are locally relevant, their good image will eventually spill over to other firms that attempt to internationalize. That is the case for all Italian, Finnish, German, French, Japanese products that the world has come to accept. However, African businesses mostly do a bad job at branding and the earlier small firms/governments start recognizing the magnitude of the problem; the better it would be for the place of African business in the global economy. This is because not many in the world expect intelligent solutions or competitive offers from Africa, including many Africans. Africa and Africans (still in Africa) are not seen as capable of providing and offering anything good to the world. Typical examples are science, technology and healthcare. Most politicians seek healthcare abroad. Science and technology R&D that will spur innovation is underfunded. Entrepreneurs who find opportunities for expansion also lack funding and support. However, there are thousands Africans excelling around the world. Connecting and promoting the diaspora would help open doors.

On the home front, I have a three pronged approach for filling this competitive/internationalization gap:

(a) African consumers have a social responsibility to patronize ‘made in Africa’ products (sector specific market stimulation approaches apply). In return, African manufacturers and service providers must convince consumers that they are capable of providing good value for money (better and improved products with proper packaging).

b) Governments have to support small businesses in their internationalization processes. This means structural impediments that negatively affect national image and business growth must be systematically dismantled.

c) Business schools which teach entrepreneurship must make students aware that on the whole, given the massive image deficit of all things Africa (people, products, services) they must do ten times what other nations do if they want to beat the competition. That is not an exaggeration if one considers the level of debranding (degrading) Africa has endured for the past 400 years. The troubles are highlighted while the improvements receive media blackout.

The image of Africa in the world is mostly about the 3Ds: death, disease and desperation. Not disruptive technologies (Google Thomas Mensah and fiber optics technology), distinguished acts and development projects. In the past few decades, some African scholars, politicians and others have contributed to this self-marginalization. The onus is on the current generation to excel by promoting Africa and reversing the image deficit. In answering your research question, you may want to take a look at the country of origin literature. You may also have a look at Amankwah- Amoah, J.(2018) Africa's competitiveness in the global economy:past, present and future.

Thank you Frederick Ahen, well said.

Well said Frederick. Believing in oneself and understanding oneself is the first step. Identifying Africa's own core competencies which are built around unique products/services is a start. Imitating the western needs will lead nowhere, capitalizing on trained African talent is a must and disseminating awareness and creating an African value proposition is next.

I agree, but they have to identify a product or service that lend themselves to a small business and in a world of today, which includes giants such as Amazon, survival can be challenging.

Frederick has touched on very important aspects of business development, factors for survival and growth. In my view, the fundamental question is about understanding the market, making critical analysis and determining the chances for a business including attendant risks and their mitigation. When your product satisfies a need and answers or resolves a problem, then it has a market. Connection with the market is important. Many business attempt to do much or jump certain stages of development. Survival can be determined by the amount of business they do on the domestic market and whatever experiences they gain, they can then venture into regional and international markets. Understand the critical stages of your product development in addition the points made by Frederick.

Thanksfull for your comment ...

I'm new lecture still learning about small business

You posed an important question, sparking an excellent discussion! A first challenge for small businesses in Africa is actually to survive in their domestic competitive environment, where they often face overwhelming competition from foreign firms. They need to be able to compete locally in order to take the next step and begin exporting from their home base. As Frederick Ahen pointed out earlier, a huge problem is then the lack of knowledge among American, Asian, and European customers about African firms and products. On top of that, unfortunately, many customers simply have unfavorable perceptions about African products. It is very hard to overcome such perceptions.

Dear Irene:

I would say that one important thing to do is to identify market segments big enough for african SMEs to be interesting, but not big enough for big companies to bother about. In a globalized world there are many of those. I was born in a litlle country (Uruguay), between two giants (Brazil and Argentina) and a successfull idea for uruguayan SMEs is that one, to find small niches in Sao Paulo or other big cities in these countries and make business there.

An example: some small shoe makers in Uruguay have very specific shoeshops in New York where they sale their products at very high prices, and it works.

Regards

Gustavo Concari

How can small businesses survive in the international business arena?

Innovation is the key, finding niche products/services where e-commerce does not apply and will most probabaly will not for the coming year because these products/services are so specialized or complicated in use that for instance personal contact in inavoidable. So forget all tangible products that can easely be fabricated anywhere, you can never beat the next cheaper competitor/producer. Think out of the box...

regards,

Wim

I have read a lot of literature and many case studies on international business.The verdict of many renown scholars is that small businesses can only survive in the international business arena when they THINK GLOBAL BUT ACT LOCAL.

Perhaps seeking some type of joint venture, strategic alliance, or partnership with another organization with stronger capacities for reaching other markets...

Daniel, You just mentioned some of the strategies that could beused for business internationalization.These strategies will not work if a business fails to think global but act local.I refer you to the MACDONAL BUSINESS CASE STUDY on business internationalization with reference to the strategies adopted to be able to capture and also dominate the fast food industry in INDIA.

Dear Mr Raheem:

Although the idea "think global and act local" is true, an SME is not comparable to Mc Donald, perhaps one of the biggest multinational companies in the world. SMEs work on parts of a market, not in a whole market (country).

The difficult question to answer is: what does "think global" mean for an SME? Perhaps it is to think that in a global world, there may be people with the same tastes in subsaharan Africa and in a New York neighborhood, for instance.

Anyway, it´s just an idea.

Regards

G. Concari

A survival guide for The Fourth Industrial Revolution

By L. Rafael Reif

President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/01/the-fourth-industrial-revolution-a-survival-guide/

How small companies can compete on the world stage

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/01/how-small-companies-can-compete-on-the-world-stage/