4.1. The internationalization process of SMEs in the creative industry manifested in their foreign market choice and entry mode choice.
4.1.1. Internationalization intention
ID&T already obtained their internal resources (employees with extensive international work experience and network) before they started to internationalize their dance product “Sensation” to Germany and Belgium. By making use of their network and experience, they started to internationalize at an early stage. Currently, ID&T has utilized an export entry mode to export their dance product “Sensation” to 41 cities and 33 countries. Other dance products, such as “Mysteryland” and “Tomorrowland” they exported to Chile, USA, and Brazil (ID&T, 2016). ID&T has identified …show more content…
The general manager of ID&T emphasized that the potential Asian markets are very interesting for them. More specifically the Asian markets such as Taiwan, Singapore, Japan and South-Korea are seen as potential growth markets. China is also considered as a future potential growth market with a lot of opportunities due to the growing economy and the explosive growth of China's emerging middle class. It is not just that Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong are interesting for EDM event SMEs since these are the most developed cities in China. But also the dance music industry growth is centered above these cities and other factors such as government policies, the target group, and sponsors play a significant role. But despite the growing Chinese market, industry specialist are cautious of overestimating indications of weaker economic growth of the Chinese market. Since it is not clear how the creative industry in China is going to develop in the future. The market for dance events in China is still growing, but compared to other markets, such as the USA, the Chinese market is still relatively small. Furthermore, China is considered as a very difficult market to enter for foreign event SMEs due to the rule of law and the government regulations regarding safety and security. Therefore, industry specialists recommend event SMEs that are starting to internationalize to China to be assisted by government-initiated trade missions since it can facilitate and stimulate the internationalization process to China (Zain and Ng,