Factors influencing the internationalization of small-sized textile firms in a Small Island Developing State: A Mauritian study

Abstract

Internationalization offers opportunities to small firms in small island developing states for market growth, sustainability, reduced dependency on local markets, and economies of scale. As small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly playing a significant role in many countries’ socioeconomic development, Mauritian-based textile manufacturers are seen as an engine of growth for the Mauritian economy by attracting foreign direct investment, subsequently creating jobs and strengthening the manufacturing base of the economy. In this regard, the contribution of the textile industry in transforming the Mauritian economy from a middle-income economy to a high-income economy is widely acknowledged. However, most of the small- and medium-sized Mauritian textile manufacturing firms are currently not internationalized and face several domestic survival and sustainability challenges resulting from the liberalized trading system adopted by the Mauritian government in 2005. In this article, we investigate firm size-related factors, which influence small textile manufacturers’ internationalization intentions. We argue that factors relating to financial and non-financial resources are the main causes discouraging small firms’ internationalization. These factors emerged from interviews with ten internationalized medium-sized textile manufacturers in Mauritius that overcame their size-related barriers. We further extended the research by surveying the whole population of internationalized medium-sized textile manufacturers in Mauritius for triangulation purposes.