Norms and trust-shaping relationships among food-exporting SMEs in Ghana

There is a marked paucity of empirically rigorous research that
focuses on the impact that indigenous institutional influences can have on
the internationalization strategies of entrepreneurs operating in developing
countries. This study therefore explores the complex processes through
which owner-managers of food-exporting SMEs in Ghana draw on cultural
norms to build networks that enable internationalization, in the
absence of formal institutional support. The results facilitate a better
understanding of the hybridization of indigenous and global norms that
underpin SME internationalization in Ghana and other developing economies,
particularly in Africa. The study contributes to the theory and
practice of interorganizational relationships and to international entrepreneurship
in an African context.