Dr. Densil Williams

Over the last 3 years at UWI, Dr. Densil Williams has focused his research on why some small firms are engaged in international business while others, with similar characteristics and facing similar market conditions do not. Because of globalization, no firm can operate successfully without interacting with the global market place. It is therefore important that public policymakers, managers and owners of the small firm know what resources are needed to help them to better operate in the international market place.

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HOW TO BECOME COMPETITIVE

The body of work on small business international operation that he has been doing over the last three years provides some insights into the types of characteristics that are more amenable to getting smaller firms to go international. The work drew on a sample of small firms in the manufacturing and agricultural sectors in Jamaica and analyzed data on their international business performance. The results revealed the following conclusions: The owner of the business needs to possess following the characteristics in order to be competitive:

• An international orientation
• Networking skills
• Adaptability to new ideas
• Adroit leadership

AN INTERNATIONAL ORIENTATION

In the globalized world where opportunities are limitless, the owner of a small business needs to look beyond the borders of his/her own country to find opportunities that lie in the wider world and take advantage of them.

NETWORKING SKILLS

The owner needs to be a member of an organization that can allow him/her to gain access to resources such as information, finance, intellectual capital that he/she would not otherwise have.

Dr. Williams having discussions
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ADAPTABILITY TO NEW IDEAS

The owner must be willing to accept new ways of doing business more efficiently in an increasingly competitive business environment.

ADROIT LEADERSHIP

The owner must have a vision of where he wants the business to go and motivate the employees to achieve that vision.

HELPFUL INFORMATION FOR POLICYMAKERS

Public policymakers can use these findings to design profiles of business that should be targeted for assistance to go international. This will reduce drastically, the level of wastage of needed resources because only strong candidates would be targeted. Managers and owners of the small firms need to harness these resources so as to increase their chances of entering international markets. These resources are easily identifiable and so they can be targeted and become a part of the firm’s resource stock quite easily.