Abstract
The post second world war era had seen the appearance of many variations in the environments of companies. The phenomenon of globalization which has started to emerge during this period has given rise to internationalization of companies. However, the involvement in international activities sometimes can be risky for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) lifespan as the internationalization of the company reacts to additional threats and risks. Generally considered by authors of books as an enterprise with less than 500 employees, it is relevant to notice there is not universal definition of SME across countries. This heterogeneity of definitions is relevant to understand that studies concerning SMEs are variables, principally in the case of comparison between European SMEs and US SMEs. Nevertheless, nowadays SMEs play an important and growing role in world trade. SME internationalization benefits the world trade, but how international activities benefit SME?
