Export Performance at the Firm Level: Major Characteristics of Exporting Firms as Possible Determinants

AbstractSocial networks are a driving force of digital transformation and offer firms the opportunity to market products and services to both international consumers and providers, establish durable relationships with them, and improve their own competitiveness. The study analyzes the role played by the use of Facebook for online advertising, building interaction and brand communities, implementing social CRM activities, and conducting market research, as well as a sales channel alternative to physical presence, in firms’ international export performance, both in terms of managers’ perceptions and Facebook buy button conversion rate. A survey-based empirical analysis of 105 fashion firms operating worldwide was conducted. The results of multiple regression analyses show that building conversations and brand communities positively affects international export performance, while advertising via Facebook yields mixed results. By comparing firms that have a physical presence with those that do not, the former turned out to benefit from especially in-store advertising and promotions to enhance their Facebook buy button conversion rate; while the latter can improve their performance mainly by adopting outdoor and transit advertising and digital marketing. The research contributes to the existing body of knowledge on social media marketing and international business and, by adopting a firm-level perspective, provides interesting insights for practitioners since it allows to understand how to develop an effective Facebook strategy to succeed in foreign markets.

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Are Political Factors More Relevant Than Economic Factors in Firm-Level Renewable Energy Technology Export? Evidence from Path Analysis

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13168788 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (16) ◽

pp. 8788

Author(s):

Bongsuk Sung ◽

Woo-Yong Song

Keyword(s):

Renewable Energy ◽

Market Orientation ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Export Performance ◽

Economic Factor ◽

External Factors ◽

Energy Technology ◽

Firm Level ◽

Renewable Energy Technology ◽

Market Factors

Renewable energy technology (RET) firms are key economic entities in the export of RET-related products and components, in which RET firms’ exports are affected largely by policy and market. Nonetheless, the effects of policy and market factors on RET firm-level export have never received attention from researchers. This study aims to fill the gap by taking a political economy approach to establish a structural equation model to analyze the path of political-economic factor-firms’ market orientation-based export. This study reveals that RET firms’ market-orientation-based export enhancement depends entirely on political forces. Particularly, two government intervention instruments, environmental policy and export promotion policy, were highlighted. However, the effects of renewable energy policies on the exports of RET firms through market orientation are negative and statistically significant. This study proves that the effects of inter-firm competition and market attractiveness on RET firms’ exports through their market orientation are negative and statistically significant and insignificant, respectively. Further, this study demonstrates that RET firms’ market orientation has a significant positive effect on their export performance. We conclude that in order to improve RET-related policy effectiveness and efficiency, it will be useful to consider firms’ heterogeneity in response to external factors. Additionally, a full mediation model in the academic investigation of the effects of various external factors, including public policies and market factors, on firm-level export, and the implementation of firm-level export-induced policy, taking into account firms’ managerial interpretations to external factors, should be considered.

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Do innovative activities matter to Indian drug and pharmaceutical firms? An application to export performance

Journal of Generic Medicines The Business Journal for the Generic Medicines Sector ◽

10.1177/1741134317716221 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 193-205

Author(s):

Shilpi Tyagi ◽

DK Nauriyal

Keyword(s):

Pharmaceutical Industry ◽

Rapid Growth ◽

Export Performance ◽

Innovative Activity ◽

Financial Data ◽

Pharmaceutical Companies ◽

Firm Level ◽

The Real ◽

Pharmaceutical Firms ◽

New Evidence

This paper analyzes the R&D and exports profile of Indian drug and pharmaceutical industry during the period 2000–2014. The present paper examines how R&D expenditure and patent impact export performance of the Indian drug and pharmaceutical firms. The study period from 2000 to 2014 has been characterized by a rapid growth in industry’s innovative activity, as part of the strategic shift, induced by the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005. Using the real financial data for the top 91 publicly listed Indian domestic pharmaceutical companies, the study provides new evidence on firm-level export performance of the Indian drugs and pharmaceutical industry. Generalized Method of Movements estimator developed by Blundell and Bond is applied. The empirical findings of the study reveal that increased R&D intensity, higher patent count and firm’s size are important determinants of firm-level export performance.

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A Balls-and-Bins Model of Trade

The American Economic Review ◽

10.1257/aer.104.7.2127 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 104 (7) ◽

pp. 2127-2151 ◽

Cited By ~ 41

Author(s):

Roc Armenter ◽

Miklós Koren

Keyword(s):

Statistical Model ◽

Large Class ◽

Trade Flows ◽

Extensive Margin ◽

Firm Level ◽

Trade Data ◽

Exporting Firms ◽

Extensive Margin Of Trade

Many of the facts about the extensive margin of trade—which firms export, and how many products are sent to how many destinations— are consistent with a surprisingly large class of trade models because of the sparse nature of trade data. We propose a statistical model to account for sparsity, formalizing the assignment of trade shipments to country, product, and firm categories as balls falling into bins. The balls-and-bins model quantitatively reproduces the pattern of zero product- and firm-level trade flows across export destinations, and the frequency of multiproduct, multidestination exporters. In contrast, balls-and-bins overpredicts the fraction of exporting firms. ( JEL F11, F14)

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The influence of relational capability and marketing capabilities on the export performance of emerging market firms

International Marketing Review ◽

10.1108/imr-07-2014-0235 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 34 (5) ◽

pp. 606-628 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Thi Song Hanh Pham ◽

Lien Le Monkhouse ◽

Bradley R. Barnes

Keyword(s):

Emerging Market ◽

Export Performance ◽

Price Setting ◽

Marketing Capabilities ◽

Resource Based View ◽

Content Type ◽

Exporting Firms ◽

Market Intelligence ◽

Export Marketing ◽

Marketing Intelligence

Purpose Drawing on the resource-based view, the purpose of this paper is to focus on the influence of relational capability and marketing capabilities on export performance. The study also examines the interaction effects of relational capability on the marketing capabilities – export performance relationships. Design/methodology/approach A stratified random sample of 1,047 exporting firms was approached. Survey data were collected from 333 Vietnamese exporting firms and analysed using hierarchical moderated regression. Findings The results reveal that a firm’s relational capability not only strengthens the efficiency of the export pricing capability – performance, marketing intelligence capability – performance, and marketing communication capability – performance relationships, but is also the strongest predictor of export performance amongst those capabilities identified. Whilst engagement in market intelligence, product development, price setting and promotional activities have a positive payoff, the findings confirm that there is less need for exporters to engage in after-sales service and distribution capabilities. Originality/value The study introduces the notion of relational capability alongside export marketing capabilities as predictors of export performance. The authors also examine the moderating influence of relational capability on the link between export marketing capabilities and export performance. By focusing on Vietnam, the study provides fresh insights surrounding the development pathway for firms in emerging markets.

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Knowledge absorptive capacity: do all its dimensions matter for export performance of SMEs?

World Journal of Entrepreneurship Management and Sustainable Development ◽

10.1108/wjemsd-09-2015-0041 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Godwin Mwesigye Ahimbisibwe ◽

Stephen Korutaro Nkundabanyanga ◽

Gideon Nkurunziza ◽

David Nyamuyonjo

Keyword(s):

Knowledge Acquisition ◽

Absorptive Capacity ◽

Design Methodology ◽

Sampling Error ◽

Export Performance ◽

Hierarchical Regression ◽

General Effect ◽

Firm Level ◽

External Knowledge ◽

External Knowledge Acquisition

Purpose In this paper we aim to study the relationship between knowledge absorptive capacity (KAC) of exporting SMEs in Uganda and their export performance. Design/methodology/approach This study is correlational and cross-sectional, and adopts firm-level data collected via questionnaires from Ugandan exporting SMEs. As we use the sub-domains of KAC to predict export performance and therefore these sub-mains are expected to be correlated, we apply hierarchical regression as an appropriate tool for analysis when variance on a criterion variable is being explained by predictor variables that are correlated with each other (Pedhazur, 1997). Using this tool we analyze the effect of a given sub-domain after controlling for other indicators (sub-domains) of KAC; a “control” achieved by calculating the change in the adjusted R2 and the significance of this change. Findings We find that only external knowledge acquisition (a dimension of potential absorptive capacity) and external knowledge application (a dimension of realised absorptive capacity) are the only significant predictors of export performance in our model. Contrary to previous thinking, we find that external knowledge assimilation and transformation are not significant predictors of export performance. Taken together, our independent variables explain about 35.4 percent of the variance in export performance of SMEs in Uganda. Research limitations/implications The use of hierarchical regression is susceptible to problems associated with sampling error. However, the likelihood of these problems is reduced by our interaction with the data Practical implications – Our results imply that the initial focus of exporting SMEs should be on external knowledge acquisition and application. Originality/value Unlike most of the export performance literature, which have focused on the general effect of knowledge absorptive capacity as a global variable, this study explores the role played by the four dimensions of KAC and methodologically isolates the contribution played by each individual dimension in the context of exporting SMEs in a developing nation. As such we uncover the reality that not all the sub-domains of KAC are significant for export performance of SMEs in a developing country context.

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The impact of cognitive and behavioral factors on the export performance: a dynamic capabilities perspective

European Business Review ◽

10.1108/ebr-03-2019-0031 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Piotr Wójcik ◽

Mariola Ciszewska-Mlinarič

Keyword(s):

Dynamic Capabilities ◽

Positive Impact ◽

Export Performance ◽

Organizational Level ◽

Foreign Markets ◽

Content Type ◽

Exporting Firms ◽

Individual Level ◽

Multi Level ◽

Mind Set

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore how individual-level cognitive and organizational-level behavioral factors influence the level of firms’ export performance as firms adapt to the challenges of foreign expansion. Design/methodology/approach Based on the literature on dynamic capabilities (DCs) and international business, the study introduces a multi-level model of DC to internationalize and test it empirically on a sample of 93 Polish exporting firms using structural equation modeling. Findings The results show a strong and positive impact of the “strategy as stretch” managerial mind-set on two behavioral elements, namely, business modeling and partnering capability. Global mind-set has a strong and positive impact on business modeling and learning about foreign markets and a negative but insignificant effect on partnering capability. Only two of the three behavioral elements of the conceptualized DC have significant and positive impacts on export performance. In contrast to the expectations, the direct path coefficient from learning about foreign markets to export performance was found to be positive but insignificant. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature by offering a coherent, multi-level framework of DCs. The study goes beyond previous conceptualizations of DCs and considers various individual-level cognitive and organizational-level behavioral elements of DC for the internationalization of exporting firms. In particular, this study shows the interplay between them and their combined impact on export performance.

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Social capital and export performance of SMEs in Ghana: the role of firm capabilities

African Journal of Economic and Management Studies ◽

10.1108/ajems-11-2018-0361 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 262-285 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Roseline Barbara Easmon ◽

Adelaide Naa Amerley Kastner ◽

Charles Blankson ◽

Mahmoud Abdulai Mahmoud

Keyword(s):

Social Capital ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Small Firms ◽

Export Performance ◽

Marketing Capabilities ◽

Senior Managers ◽

Capital Export ◽

Content Type ◽

Exporting Firms ◽

Top Executives

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the direct impact of social capital and the influence of market-based capabilities as intervening variables on the export performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach Questionnaire-based survey was used to collect data from top executives and senior managers of exporting companies in Ghana. Data obtained were analysed using the structural equation modelling. Findings The findings revealed that social capital of SMEs exert the greatest influence on their export performance. Innovation and marketing capabilities are also key drivers of export performance among SMEs as they fully mediate the social capital–export performance relationship. Notwithstanding, marketing capabilities appear to exert a greater influence than innovation capabilities on the export performance of SMEs. Research limitations/implications The study used perceptual measures of international performance by managers of SMEs in the Ghanaian exporting sector making it difficult to determine respondent bias. Practical implications Managers of exporting firms should build stronger relationships with their customers and suppliers who contribute significantly to their export performance. SMEs would also have to hone their innovation and marketing skills as strategic components in enhancing their export performance. Social implications Market-based resources such as marketing and innovation should not be taken for granted by SMEs in the export business. Originality/value The study offers some lessons on how small firms can sharpen their marketing and innovation capabilities to derive export performance benefits from social capital. Theoretically, while the findings offer strong evidence reinforcing the DC theory, an exploration of the nexus of the theories brings to the fore the need to reassess the resource-based view and SC theories.

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