International Supply Chain Management: How Information and Communication Technologies Drive the Globalization of Firms in Asia/Pacific

Thomas Borghoff
(Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences, Germany)

Abstract: Globalization includes four subprocesses: (1) Global foundation covers the emergence of global firms from the start. (2) Internationalization captures changes in the scope and spread of international activities. (3) Global networking and covers the integration and coordination of activities on global level. (4) Global evolutionary dynamics are driving the globalization process. Twenty case studies from the Asia/Pacific region serve to explore the role of ICT in the globalization of SMEs from this vibrant region. This paper aims to capture the influence of ICT on the globalization process and of individual firms beginning with the very foundation of the respective firms. In order to sustain such a processual view, 20 histographic case studies of SMEs founded after 1980 were analyzed in China, India, New Zealand, and Singapore in order to identify both similarities and differences in the use and contribution of ICT within the globalization process across the sample firms.

Key words: globalization; evolutionary dynamics; SMEs; ICT; Asia/Pacific; histographic case studies

JEL codes: A1, F6, Z00