P.-L. Vézina’s scientific contributions

Small international businesses are flourishing on the back of new technology, and becoming more multinational than much larger international corporations. Wandering through the airports of the world, weary travelers may well have noticed the regular HSBC ads forecasting the business trends of our changing world. Traditionally, exporting has been a complex and costly task. The libraries of business schools are well stocked with thick manuals and studies of foreign market entry, franchising, exporting and trade policies. The extra costs that exporting involves, from adaptive marketing to shipping insurance, have tended to make it an exclusive activity, reserved to a small, select clique of highly productive large corporations. Technologies such as those available to firms via the eBay platform are likely to be the sort of tools needed to help homemade lemonade brewers reach a global customer base. This is because online platforms enable individuals and firms to connect across cultural and national borders.