An Exploratory Study Into the Export Behaviour of Vietnamese Small and Medium Enterprises

<p>With the fast growth of information, technology and communication, the number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) engaged in exporting activities has increased rapidly. However, the number of research studies on Vietnamese SMEs is quite limited. In order to fill this gap, this study focuses on exploring exporting behaviours of Vietnamese SMEs. Specifically, this study will address three questions related to export motivations, export barriers and firms' performance. This study provides three main contributions. The first contribution is to add to the existing literature regarding exporting study based on Vietnamese context. The second contribution is to provide selected background data involving exporting activities in Vietnam at the current time. The third contribution is to suggest some recommendations for Vietnamese managers, government and associations to help Vietnamese SMEs to develop their exporting activities and improve their firms' performance. In this study, a literature review on export motivations, export barriers, and firms' performance is provided. In order to answer these questions, fourteen in-depth interviews of Vietnamese exporting SMEs and eight in-depth interviews of Vietnamese non-exporting SMEs are conducted. Based on interview data, some key findings are identified. In terms of export motivations, exporting SMEs mentioned 22 reasons why they go overseas whereas non-exporters listed 5 reasons. Exporting SMEs' motivations are influenced by both internal and external stimuli. Compared to exporting firms, non-exporting counterparts pay more attention to the influence of internal factors in decision-making. Non-exporters' stimuli are more proactive in nature than exporters' stimuli. When examining Vietnamese export motivations, the researcher may need to take into account the influence of firm's operating sectors and the percentage of export activities. In terms of export barriers, to develop exporting activities, SMEs exporters identified 18 barriers whereas non-exporters suggested eight difficulties to start their exporting activities. The lack of resources to start or maintain exporting activities is the most mentioned barriers whereas the least mentioned barriers are those related to the environmental area. Exporting experience may be applied to provide a better understanding about the level impacts of different export barriers and the number of export barriers. In terms of firms' performance, both exporters and non-exporters proposed to use economic indicators to measure their firms' performance. There are 19 factors and 11 factors that can be used to explain exporters and non-exporters' performance, respectively. In order to understand Vietnamese SMEs' performance, the combination of the resource-based view and institution-based view need to be applied. This study also suggests some recommendations and implications for future research as well as Vietnamese firms' managers, government and associations to improve SMEs' performance and enhance their exporting activities.</p>

An Exploratory Study Into the Export Behaviour of Vietnamese Small and Medium Enterprises

<p>With the fast growth of information, technology and communication, the number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) engaged in exporting activities has increased rapidly. However, the number of research studies on Vietnamese SMEs is quite limited. In order to fill this gap, this study focuses on exploring exporting behaviours of Vietnamese SMEs. Specifically, this study will address three questions related to export motivations, export barriers and firms' performance. This study provides three main contributions. The first contribution is to add to the existing literature regarding exporting study based on Vietnamese context. The second contribution is to provide selected background data involving exporting activities in Vietnam at the current time. The third contribution is to suggest some recommendations for Vietnamese managers, government and associations to help Vietnamese SMEs to develop their exporting activities and improve their firms' performance. In this study, a literature review on export motivations, export barriers, and firms' performance is provided. In order to answer these questions, fourteen in-depth interviews of Vietnamese exporting SMEs and eight in-depth interviews of Vietnamese non-exporting SMEs are conducted. Based on interview data, some key findings are identified. In terms of export motivations, exporting SMEs mentioned 22 reasons why they go overseas whereas non-exporters listed 5 reasons. Exporting SMEs' motivations are influenced by both internal and external stimuli. Compared to exporting firms, non-exporting counterparts pay more attention to the influence of internal factors in decision-making. Non-exporters' stimuli are more proactive in nature than exporters' stimuli. When examining Vietnamese export motivations, the researcher may need to take into account the influence of firm's operating sectors and the percentage of export activities. In terms of export barriers, to develop exporting activities, SMEs exporters identified 18 barriers whereas non-exporters suggested eight difficulties to start their exporting activities. The lack of resources to start or maintain exporting activities is the most mentioned barriers whereas the least mentioned barriers are those related to the environmental area. Exporting experience may be applied to provide a better understanding about the level impacts of different export barriers and the number of export barriers. In terms of firms' performance, both exporters and non-exporters proposed to use economic indicators to measure their firms' performance. There are 19 factors and 11 factors that can be used to explain exporters and non-exporters' performance, respectively. In order to understand Vietnamese SMEs' performance, the combination of the resource-based view and institution-based view need to be applied. This study also suggests some recommendations and implications for future research as well as Vietnamese firms' managers, government and associations to improve SMEs' performance and enhance their exporting activities.</p>

Determinants of Exports Behaviour of India’s Agro-processing Firms: Role of Technology, Imported Raw Materials and Logistics Infrastructure

Despite accounting for a sizeable share in the overall output and employment of the manufacturing sector, the export potential of India’s Agro-processing firms has received less attention. This article investigates the determinants of export propensity and intensity of relatively labour-intensive agro-processing firms in India with a focus on the role of technology adopted, the proportion of imported raw materials used and status of the logistics infrastructure at the location of the firm. The article makes use of the CMIE-PROWESS dataset to obtain a cross-section of agro-processing firms for the year 2016–2017 and the Logistic Ease Across Different States (LEADS) database. The empirical strategy involves the Heckman two-step process to address the sample selection bias originating in modelling export behaviour. The article finds that the likelihood of an agro-processing firm to enter the exporting market increases with an increase in technology enhancing investment in terms of expenditure on research and development and import of capital goods. Moreover, a better level of logistics infrastructure enhances the likelihood of exporting. The likelihood of a firm to export also increases with the increase in the use of imported raw materials, firm size, age and superior managerial quality. However, the paper finds only the expenditure on imported capital goods and imported raw materials to be positively and significantly associated with the export intensity of the exporting firms.

Characteristics of Services and Interdependency between Export and Innovation Intensity in the Sector of the Business Services

In this chapter, we study services and their unique characteristics. We focus on characteristics of services, such as intangibility, immateriality; invisibility; perishability; temporary existence, sensitivity on time; non storability; inseparability; lack of inventory; sensibility of quality control; high degree of risk or difficulty in experimentation; no return possibility at un-satisfaction; customisation requirements; different distribution channels; and no rivalry. We also analyse the relations between exports, investments in development and innovation activities of Slovene business services sectors in two statistically different periods (2002-2008 and 2010-2016). A two-step approach to examine the firms’ performance in the selected business non-financial services sectors was applied. First, we used Simple Probit model, and in the second step, Simultaneous Probit model was used. The preliminary results suggest that the investment in R&D activities encourages export behaviour and that the export behaviour encourages investment in R&D activities.

Conceptual Mini-Catchment Typologies for Testing Dominant Controls of Nutrient Dynamics in Three Nordic Countries

Optimal nutrient pollution monitoring and management in catchments requires an in-depth understanding of spatial and temporal factors controlling nutrient dynamics. Such an understanding can potentially be obtained by analysing stream concentration–discharge (C-Q) relationships for hysteresis behaviours and export regimes. Here, a classification scheme including nine different C-Q types was applied to a total of 87 Nordic streams draining mini-catchments (0.1–65 km2). The classification applied is based on a combination of stream export behaviour (dilution, constant, enrichment) and hysteresis rotational pattern (clock-wise, no rotation, anti-clockwise). The scheme has been applied to an 8-year data series (2010–2017) from small streams in Denmark, Sweden, and Finland on daily discharge and discrete nutrient concentrations, including nitrate (NO3−), total organic N (TON), dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP), and particulate phosphorus (PP). The dominant nutrient export regimes were enrichment for NO3− and constant for TON, DRP, and PP. Nutrient hysteresis patterns were primarily clockwise or no hysteresis. Similarities in types of C-Q relationships were investigated using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) considering effects of catchment size, land use, climate, and dominant soil type. The PCA analysis revealed that land use and air temperature were the dominant factors controlling nutrient C-Q types. Therefore, the nutrient export behaviour in streams draining Nordic mini-catchments seems to be dominantly controlled by their land use characteristics and, to a lesser extent, their climate.

Managerial Characteristics and Export Performance – Empirical Evidence from Kosovo

Guided by managerial theory and behavioural economics, as well as the literature on exporting, this study combines the upper echelons perspective with the Melitz model to analyse the export behaviour of firms. Hence, it controls for the influence of managerial characteristics, neglected thus far in the literature on firms’ export choice and volume in transition countries. The empirical analysis is based on a random sample of 500 Kosovan SMEs. The results support the key hypothesis that both subjective and objective managerial characteristics are crucial for export decisions. In line with the strategic choice paradigm and behavioural economics, the findings provide support regarding the influence of the habituation and rational expectations effect, as well as the manager’s education and international exposure concerning export performance. Further, the Kosovan firms are self-selective in their export behaviour in terms of productivity supporting the Melitz model. No evidence, however, is found for the significance of institutional factors, even after performing factor analysis.