Institutional Export Barriers on Exporters from Emerging Markets: Evidence from China

The emerging markets have become the increasingly important trading nations in the global economy. Given its significance to practitioners and policymakers, export barriers has been the popular topic in the international business studies. However, research about export barriers caused by the local institutions are under developed, though institutional voids and institutional inefficiency are reported as the major determinants for business development in emerging markets. This paper aims to fill in this gap by exploring the institutional export barriers in emerging markets. Based on existing studies on export barriers and institutional perspective, a conceptual framework is initially developed by separating formal and informal institutional export barriers. Then three specific institutional export barriers are identified, including government policy, weak legal system and informal and personal networks. In the meanwhile, this paper sheds light on how the institutional export barriers are developed and obstruct exporting in emerging markets

Export barriers and path to internationalization: a comparison of conventional enterprises and international new ventures

Twenty years after the seminal work on rapid and early internationalization, export barrier research remains detached from this path of internationalization. Thus far, export research has largely disregarded the relationship between path to internationalization and the influence of export constraints. This paper opens a new thoroughfare of inquiry by distinguishing international new ventures from conventional enterprises on the basis of the export barrier construct. Using a sample of 129 small multinational enterprises, our logistic regression model separates international new ventures from conventional enterprises, with accuracy approaching 80 % on the basis of eight underlying export barrier factors. Our results convey two dynamic implications: In the realm of export research, we demonstrate that export barriers can indeed predict the path to internationalization. Thus, gradual internationalization is induced by skill and knowledge shortages, while rapid internationalization ensues from positive managerial orientation and lack of confidence in the host market. From a policymaking perspective, this study provides a basis for predicting the international new venture-to-conventional enterprise ratio within the population as well as an instructive basis for needs-based targeting of incentives

Export performance: Multiple predictors and multiple measures approach

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the antecedents of export performance within the parameters of the structure-conduct-and-performance (SCP) paradigm, resource-based view (RBV), rational choice (RC) and perceptual view (PV), theoretical templates. Design/methodology/approach – The study surveyed continuing manufacturing exporters from New Zealand (n=118) using an electronic method. Linear regression analysis was used to determine the relationships among the groups of predictors and three types of measures. Findings – The results found that strategic factors (encapsulating RC) were strong predictors of both export intensity (EI) and export intensity growth, followed by export barriers (representing PV). Conversely, firm factors (representing an amalgamation of SCP and RBV variables) generated lower explanatory power in predicting export performance. Regarding measures of export performance, EI carried the highest efficacy. Practical implications – This research suggests export performance depends primarily on deliberate strategic initiatives (RC) (regarding, products, markets and approaches to order generation), and implicitly challenges the resource and natural selection based advantages inherent in firm factors. Originality/value – This is one of the few studies on export performance to test the explanatory power of competing theoretical views using a multiple measures approach. Insights from this research extend to the very definition of an internationalizing SME with significant implications for export researchers

Export stages and export barriers: revisiting traditional export development

© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. This study revisits the stage model dialogue by testing seven hypotheses on the relationship between stages of export development and the influence of export barriers. Empirical data are based on a sample of 145 New Zealand firms, and the analysis combines a six-stage framework with an illustrative list of barriers, while going a step further than previous research by examining the effect of covariates. Empirical results demonstrate that resource constraints, marketing barriers, knowledge and experience barriers, and export-procedure barriers are "export stage dependent." However, regarding export-stage-dependent barriers, differences exist only when we compare the early to the very advanced stages of development. These results also refute the grand hypothesis, which suggests an inverse relationship between export stages and the influence of export barriers. While the stage model typology still provides a practicable basis for need-based segmentation, it does not capture completely the heterogeneity associated with the middle stages

Export barriers in a changing institutional environment: A quasi-longitudinal study of New Zealand’s manufacturing exporters

© 2014, Springer Science+Business Media New York. The primary gap in export barrier literature has been the lack of studies adopting a longitudinal research design to examine this phenomenon. This vital and timely research addresses this long standing void by investigating the influence of export barriers at two specific points in time, 1995 and 2010. Examining the influence of export barriers across time is fundamental for aligning export development programmes with exporter needs and also for helping export managers craft winning strategies. Following a careful review and synthesis of extant literature, the study uses changes in the exporters’ institutional environment to predict change in the influence of export barriers. Data are drawn via simple random probabilistic samples of manufacturing exporters, from the same working population, using an identical survey instrument. Discriminant analysis results show that the influence of export barriers differs markedly over the two periods as evidenced by the classification accuracy of 85 %. There is support for the overarching hypothesis that export barrier influence is traceable to the changes occurring in the institutional or task environment. Specifically, deregulation of the economy, commitment to free trade, increased adoption of information and communication technology communication and floating of the exchange rate appear to shape the influence of export barriers for New Zealand exporters. Thus, while past research ascribes change in export barrier influence to organizational and internationalization variables, our study suggests that over time the institutional environment can explain export barrier influence. The study makes the case for policymakers to better align export development programmes with prevailing barriers while challenging export managers to revisit and augment the skill sets required for export success

SMEs and Entrepreneurship in the era of Globalization: Advances and Theoretical Approaches

Scholars have long studied small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and recognize the need for SMEs to postulate strategies to compete and succeed in the global market. In the current ultra-competitive business environment, SMEs face several internal and external challenges. In this introduction to the Special Issue (SI), we review the theoretical models and frameworks in this stream of research and outline some research questions that could be potentially used in future research in this era of globalization. The six papers selected for inclusion in this SI analyze this field from different angles, offering interesting overviews on the present situation of research in the field, as well as relevant new findings and perspectives for future research

Early internationalizing firms: 2004\u20132018

The literature on early internationalization has evolved rapidly in the last few decades. Firms that achieve early and rapid internationalization have emerged as newcomers in the international arena. Disclosed in the late 1980s, international new ventures and born globals today are well known by academics, practitioners, and policymakers. However, the rapid evolution of literature on this topic has produced a considerable corpus of articles in just a few years, discouraging the realization of iterative and thematic analyses. Existing reviews have analyzed the first decade of research or some peculiar aspects of early internationalizing firms or have been focused on the wider international entrepreneurship domain. This article complements previous studies by reviewing the literature on early internationalizing firms over the years 2004\u20132018. The authors develop a systematic review of 280 studies investigating born globals, international new ventures, and early internationalizing firms that were published in leading journals in the field of international entrepreneurship. The goals of the review are as follows: to describe the state of the art of the literature on early internationalizing firms, to identify the themes that recurred during this period, and to highlight trends and future research perspectives in the field. As one of the implications, this study aims at serving as a summary and starting point for scholars and practitioners interested in early interna- tionalization phenomenon