eThesis - Kauppakorkeakoulun sähköiset gradut

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This paper's purpose was to review and assess underlying potential for a supplier sourcing company that operates between the growing market of Chinese quality suppliers and the Finnish sales- and manufacturing companies. This research has examined the driving forces of using international sourcing (IS), IS business model as well as IS opportunity, and critical foreign supplier characteristics for internationalizing SME’s.

A theoretical background has been based on reviewing a wide variety of literature from the fields of entrepreneurship, supplier sourcing, internationalization, business models, business opportunities, social capital, networking, and Chinese business environment. Also, the prevailing attitudes and experiences of the Finnish small and medium sized companies towards foreign suppliers and trade intermediaries were examined by conducting a questionnaire survey.

The research results suggest that untapped IS opportunities exist within this market. These opportunities thrive from the driving forces of the IS market, which include globalization and global competition, SME’s lack of resources for internationalization, as well as the emergence of IS and the trend of IS becoming more and more common. This study has thus determined that the IS company and the IS entrepreneur can indeed offer significant added value for the western SME’s by sourcing the best Chinese suppliers. Also, it was determined that there are numerous obligatory features and processes for the IS company and the IS entrepreneur, and they are accounted for in this paper by presenting a business model for the IS company.