INTERNATIONALIZATION OF SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED ENTERPRISES IN SLOVENIA AND EUROPEAN UNION

Globalizacija je proces, ki traja že desetletja, vendar se je v zadnjih desetletjih, z nastankom številnih regionalnih integracij po svetu, ta proces še pospešil in okrepil. Ena izmed bistvenih posledic globalizacije pa je internacionalizacija poslovanja, ne le velikih podjetij, temveč tudi malih in srednje velikih podjetij. Diplomska naloga v prvem delu prikazuje teoretični okvir procesa internacionalizacije ter opisuje dva modela internacionalizacije, ki sta pomembna za raziskovanje internacionalizacije poslovanja malih in srednje velikih podjetij. V tem delu je na kratko opisan tudi skupen trg Evropske unije, saj menimo, da ima poslovno in politično okolje velik vpliv na poslovanje podjetij. V naslednjem delu diplomske naloge opisujemo možne načine vstopa na tuj trg ter spoznamo katere so največkrat uporabljene strategije vstopa na tuje tržišče. V nadaljevanju tega dela so prikazani dejavniki, motivi in ovire internacionalizacije malih in srednje velikih podjetij v Evropski uniji. Pri prikazovanju najbolj pogostih motivov in ovir, smo posebno pozornost namenili motivom in oviram s katerimi se srečujejo mala in srednja velika podjetja v Sloveniji. Vsa podjetja, z zniževanjem stroškov ali diferenciacijo, stremijo k večji konkurenčnosti, zato smo v diplomski nalogi raziskali vpliv internacionalizacije na konkurenčnost malih in srednje velikih podjetij v Evropski uniji. Akt za mala podjetja za Evropo odraža željo, da se s sklopom 10-ih načel, katera so jedro akta, ustvari ustrezno politično, pravno in poslovno okolje za mala in srednje velika podjetja ter se na ta način olajša poslovanje podjetij na skupnem trgu Evropske unije. V diplomski nalogi se osredotočamo na 10-o načelo akta, saj se le-to nanaša na internacionalizacijo malih in srednje velikih podjetij. Za 10-o Načelo akta je konzorcij Evropske komisije pripravil nabor indikatorjev s katerimi se izmeri stopnja internacionalizacije malih in srednje velikih podjetij v vsaki državi posebej. Te indikatorje smo podrobno raziskali in rezultate med seboj primerjali, posebno pozornost pa smo pri vsakem indikatorju posvetili rezultatom slovenskim malim in srednje velikim podjetjem. Tako smo ugotovili koliko so slovenska mala in srednje velika podjetja odvisna od mednarodnih trgov, koliko se zanašajo na prihodke iz tujine ter na nek način tudi ugotovili kako prijazno je domače okolje do internacionaliziranih podjetij.Globalization is an ongoing process, which has been going on for decades but because of the formation of numerous regional integrations throughout the world, the globalization became faster and stronger. One of the main consequences of the globalization is internationalization of business. Not only large companies internationalize, small and medium sized enterprises also do. In the first part of the diploma thesis theoretical framework of internationalization is shown. It describes two models of internationalization, which are very important for research of internationalization of small and medium sized enterprises. In this part, the common market of European Union is described because we believe that political and business environment have a big impact on companies doing business. In the next part of diploma thesis we describe all possible entry strategies for international markets and we also find out which strategies are most common for an entry on the foreign market. Factors, motives and barriers of the internationalization of small and medium sized companies in European Union are also shown in the first part of the thesis. When presenting the motives and barriers, we have put a special attention to the most common motives and barriers in Slovenian small and medium sized enterprises. All companies want to be more competitive, whether they do it with differentiation or with cutting costs. That is why we have researched the impact of internationalization on competitiveness of small and medium sized companies in European Union. Small Business Act for Europe reflects the wish of the European Commission to create, with the help of ten principles which are the core of the Act, an appropriate political, legal and business environment for small and medium sized companies and in this way facilitates doing business in the common market of European Union. In the diploma thesis we focus on tenth principle of the Act because this principle refers to the internationalization of small and medium sized companies. For the tenth principle of the Act Consortium of the European Commission has prepared a set of indicators with which we can measure the level of internationalization of small and medium sized companies in every country individually. We have thoroughly researched the indicators and compared the results. Again, we have put our special attention to the results of Slovenian small and medium sized companies. In this way, we found out how much Slovenian small and medium sized companies depend on international markets, how much they rely on income from abroad and in some way we also found out how friendly domestic environment to the internationalized companies is