“The Irish Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment defines a small business as one which employs less than 500 people, or has a turnover of less than €3 million per year. Medium sized enterprises are most commonly defined as ones which employ between 50 and 249 people”.

Small businesses represent a vast majority of business in Ireland and across the globe. For the purpose of this paper the team will outline exactly what an SME is and the different implications and benefits that arise for SMEs who decide to trade internationally. We will begin by firstly highlighting the different definitions for SME so an understanding of what an SME and what they stand for can be achieved. We will go on to explain the preparation period an SME goes through before it can trade internationally and the different barriers that it will come up against during this time. The paper will also outline the problems that an SME will face when it is trading internationally, but will also go on to express the numerous benefits that can be enjoyed by the SME that decides to take this route.

5. Potential of a population and purchasing power

Successes in Internationalisation of SMEs

1. Uncertainty: Results in small firms having small customer bases and limited resources.

The Team interviewed local entrepreneur and businessman Austin Mathews. He is the sole owner of Austin Mathews Shipping Services Ltd, which is basically an importing, exporting and storage company that deals in animal feed, timber, coal and peat. Austin Mathews started his storage business in 1992.

Some topics in this essay:
SMEs Five, Channel Distribution, Environment SMEs, Internationally SMEs, International Effort, Austin Mathews, Drogheda Greenore, American Dollars, Competition SMEs, Positioning Product/Service, overseas market, international market, economic environment, trade internationally, channel distribution, foreign markets, direct channel distribution, direct channel, home market, international effort, product service, macro economic environment, micro economic environment, maturity stage product, indirect channel distribution,