Business Across Borders

Doing business across borders is rarely a simple process of choosing a market and exporting into it. Small firms depend on relationships, trust, boards, networks and the ability to learn as partnerships and market conditions change. My research examines how SMEs build, govern and adapt these connections while operating across different institutional and cultural settings.

Trust is a recurring thread in this work. Research on New Zealand firms working with Chinese and other international partners shows how affective and cognitive trust, shared goals, relationship strength and partnership exit shape what firms learn and which opportunities they can pursue. Later work extends this into resilience, board governance, network search and the digital synchronisation of international relationships.

Asia is central to this stream, but the broader question travels well beyond any single region: how can SMEs use relationships, knowledge and capabilities across borders without becoming over-dependent on one partner, market or place? I am particularly interested in strategies that help firms turn distance and foreignness from liabilities into sources of learning, resilience and opportunity.