The Role of Information in the Internationalisation of SMEs: A Typological Approach
构建了中小企业国际化战略与信息通信服务需求关系的类型学，基于企业家职业态度和过往经验分类，并通过意大利企业问卷验证，旨在帮助匹配供需和制定公共政策。
ROBERTO CAFFERATA IS PROFESSOR OF general management at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy, and Riccardo Mensi is a management consultant and visiting professor at the University of Urbino, Italy. In this paper the authors aim at defining the basic principles underlying the relationship between the strategies of internationalisation of small and medium-sized firms and the demand for information/communication services (I/C services). The study is based on an assumption of a high degree of differentiation of strategic choices and structural models available to small and medium enterprises for the internationalisation of their activities. The need for I/C services depends on a set of conditions which vary according to the present vocational attitudes and the past experiences of the small entrepreneur. The authors build up a taxonomy of small and medium enterprises which need either traditional or advanced information services to operate abroad. This taxonomy is being tested through a survey based on questionnaires sent directly to Italian small entrepreneurs. The taxonomy could eventually be of help in the identification of appropriate links between demand and supply, as well as be useful for the implementation of bettei- focused public policies, where needed.