Acceso usuarios
Colombia
El propósito de este artículo es ofrecer una metodología cuantitativa para la selección de mercados para pequeñas y medianas empresas (PYMES), de fácil implementación y comprensión que pondera factores de costo, logística, barreras comerciales, y cultura. En dicha metodología se analizan variables que determinan de un modo objetivo la selección de un mercado para la exportación de mercancías. Para validar la metodología propuesta, se estudia la selección de mercados internacionales para bebidas carbonatadas desde Colombia, concluyendo que el Reino Unido es el mercado más apropiado de acuerdo a las ponderaciones asignadas a las variables y factores.Palabras clave: Selección de mercados internacionales, PYMES, internacionalización, exportaciones, toma de decisiones.
This article aims to provide a quantitative methodology for easy implementation and understanding in SMEs in order to support the international market selection. The proposed methodology includes 11 variables grouped into 4 factors related to cost, logistics, trade barriers, and culture. The variables of the methodology are product price, international transport costs, importation costs per container, logistics performance index, transit time, tariffs, protectionism, economic freedom index, ease of doing business, corruption perception index, and cultural distance. The methodology has a quantitative approach based on a hierarchical weighting process, where the variables are weighted to compute the values of the factors, and then the factors are weighted to obtain a final score for each potential market. In order to validate the results of the methodology, we performed a sensitivity analysis, changing the weights assigned to the variables and factors, thus identifying the lower and upper limits of the variables and factors between which the solution is valid (robustness of the solution). Due to the ease of use and flexibility of the market selection method, it is implemented in an Excel spreadsheet, facilitating its implementation at low cost by SMEs. Therefore, the values of the variables are normalized to facilitate their operation in the weighting process. In order to validate the proposed methodology, we study the international market selection for soft drinks from Colombia based on 8 pre-selected markets, finding that the United Kingdom is the most appropriate market according to the weights assigned to the variables and factors, and according to the sensitivity analysis performed. We concluded that the proposed methodology for the international market selection reduces the uncertainty in the decision-making process, providing a systematic and structured method for SMEs, supported by reliable and high-quality information. Keywords: international market selection, SMEs, internationalization, exports, decision-making.
