“Your internationalisation strategy must base itself on your company’s general strategy as defined in the mission statement – and this must, in turn, base itself on your core-skills” was the main message conveyed to participants at the internationalisation course held by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry during May.

The course, entitled “Aspects of Internationalisation – Strategic and Practical Considerations for SME’s Going International”, was delivered by Klaus Pedersen, internationalisation manager at the Malta Chamber. Mr Pedersen has a Master’s Degree in International Business Management from the Aarhus School of Business (now University of Aarhus), specialising in International Strategic Management and the Internationalisation of SMEs.

The training programme aimed to give business owners, managers and key personnel a perspective on the subject of internationalisation, enabling them to better plan the company’s internationalisation efforts. The course also provided insight into key strategic considerations. Participants hailed from various sectors including manufacturing, IT, financial services and the creative sector. In view of this, Mr Pedersen conducted one-to-one meetings before the course in order to better understand each applicant’s business interests as well as to evaluate the application of the course content to each participant's company.

The course dealt with various aspects of the internationalisation process such as export, import, outsourcing, foreign investment and other forms of international exchanges. The subject of internationalisation was discussed both from a theoretical and a practical point of view. On the theoretical side, academic internationalisation-theory was described and discussed and generic business analysis tools were applied to analyse a firm’s internationalisation process. From a practical point of view, subjects such as preparedness for internationalisation, terms of payment, trade terms, intercultural dimensions and the use of the internet in internationalisation were explored.

Various guest lecturers were invited to share their expertise in every course session. The topic of internationalisation theory was presented by Uma Gupta, Professor in Internationalisation, and currently guest lecturer at the University of Malta; Armin Eckermann, senior executive vice president - head of banking group at Fimbank spoke about international trade and finance; Malta Enterprise Gateway to Export project manager Mark Pizzuto addressed the participants about the Gateway to Export and other support schemes and assistance available; Gege Gatt, managing director at ICON delivered a presentation about international e-marketing and e-commerce; and Helga Ellul, managing director at Good Advise Ltd spoke to the attendees about strategic management.