Open Lectures and Seminars
Open Lecture with Natalia Ribberink
Open lecture of Dr. Natalia Ribberink "Internationalisation strategies of SMEs in the EU in cross-country comparison" took place on the 9th of November.
The lecture aimed to provide some insights on the existing European framework to support internationalisation strategies of SMEs as well as to focus on their internationalisation pattern in cross-country comparison.
Abstract
SMEs encompass a broad range of actors, ranging fr om Germany’s Mittelstand to America’s family farm; to the new-money elites of Shanghai and Silicon Valley. It is a well-known fact, that these types of firms represent the backbone of most economies. In the EU, for instance, SMEs were responsible for 85% of new jobs in the past five years and provided two-thirds of the total private sector employment (Suwala, 2017). As part of their growth strategy, many SMEs go global and orient themselves internationally. Parallel to the need for increased international competitiveness, the field of SME internationalization has expanded and gathered momentum (Ribau, Moreira & Rapposo, 2016; Paul & Shrivastava, 2016; Paul, Parthasarathy & Gupta, 2017). In this context, understanding antecedents, decision characteristics such as foreign market entry modes, and exporting challenges etc. are critical for the survival and success of SMEs.
Natalia Ribberink is professor of Foreign Trade & International Management at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (Germany) since 2012. She graduated with honours from the Belarusian State University in Minsk with a degree in World Economy/ International Economic Relations. As a winner of DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) Award for Excellence she continued her education and research at the Osnabrueck University of Applied Sciences (Germany), wh ere she obtained her second university degree in European Business Studies and a Ph.D. in Economics. Her major research concentrations are: international trade and investment (FDI), internationalisation strategies, emerging markets (BRICS). In addition to her professorship at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences she is a part of faculty and a holder of the Best Teacher Award in Business (2015) at the Bucerius Law School, Hamburg. She holds visiting professorship positions at the University of Rhode Island (USA), California State University Long Beach (USA), and has a position of external faculty member at the Utrecht University of Applied Sciences (The Netherlands).