Nayga, Rodolfo M., Jr.

Waggoner, Daniel B.

English

Research Papers in Economics

APPLEBAUM  SCHOLARSHIP PAPER
Export Behavior  and Attitudes of
Australasia Meat Industry Firms:
A North American Market Focus
Daniel B.  Waggoner  and Rodolfo M.  Nayga, Jr.
The  merchandising  of agricultural  commodities  and  tion to manager-related variables, especially managers'
products  has  assumed  an  increased  international  perception  of exporting.  The Geobusiness Model is
dimension  over the past  two  decades.  Meat  export  presented as a framework to facilitate the operationali-
firms in both Australia and New Zealand continue to  zation  of  the  variables  and  measure  the  constructs
play an important role as  a major provider of export  utilized in the study.  Research questions surrounding
earnings,  technological innovation,  and employment.  the relationship between business strategy,  structure,
During the last several  years,  a body of literature  and performance  in the North American  marketplace
has attempted to provide a more satisfactory  explana-  are developed and investigated.
tion of differences  in the export performance  of the  Primary  data  for  the  study  is  gathered  from  a
firm.  Although  previous  studies  contribute  to  a  random sample survey  of 89 meat export  firms based
greater insight into export behavior and attitudes, they  in Australasia  using  a  self-administered  postal  ques-
are  confounded  by  methodological  and  conceptual  tionnaire targeted towards pre-identified senior manag-
limitations which diminish  the insights they offer for  ers.  The sample frame is derived from a register (list)
those involved in the meat export industry.  provided by the U.S.  Department of Agriculture.
Studies of export marketing phenomena in different  The empirical survey data obtained are analyzed by
social,  cultural,  economic,  political,  and institutional  country and compared  to  each other using frequency
settings  can  improve  understanding  of  the  export  distribution analyses,  matrix analyses,  and Spearman
behavior  and  attitudes of firms in  different  environ-  rank-order  correlation.  Significant differences  among
ments.  This  study  investigates  the  export  behavior  countries are identified by using the Student's t-Test.
and attitudes of Australasia  (i.e.,  Australia  and  New  Although  the study  is  exploratory  in nature,  the
Zealand)  meat export  firms,  particularly  toward  the  results  of this  interdisciplinary  investigation  suggest
North American  marketplace.  some  common  themes  consistent  with  previous
The  study  is unique  in  two  respects.  First,  it  research.  It was found that even among firms within
compares the overseas practices of Australia and New  the  same  industry,  their  attitudes  and  response  to
Zealand  firms  rather than the  characteristics  of their  various variables differ.  This demonstrates the impor-
home operations.  Second, the study attempts to hold  tance  of using  both  export  involvement  and  export
constant  differences  in  objectives  and/or  strategies  attitude dimensions when attempting to segment firms.
which are due to the idiosyncracies  of particular mar-  In sum,  the findings and conclusions of this study
kets or industries.  It does  this by limiting analysis to  should  be  of  practical  use  to  business  enterprises,
one overseas  market--North America.  government trade policy officials,  and industry associ-
This research effort includes most types of previ-  ations in identifying  the areas of support and market-
ously examined firm-related variables but gives atten-  ing  strategy in greatest need of review  and improve-
ment.  While these results cannot be freely generalized
beyond  the  initial  population,  they  provide  some
Waggoner  is  a  former  Fulbright  Scholar,  Department  of  understanding  of the theoretical  and empirical  issues
Agricultural  Economics  and  Business,  Massey University,  related  to  the  export  marketing  performance  and
Palmerston,  New Zealand.  Nayga  is with the Department  behavior of the firm.  Future research efforts will find
of  Agricultural  Economics  and  Marketing,  Rutgers  merit in examining further the relationship between the
University,  New Brunswick, New Jersey.  The authors wish  various variables presented and the unidimensional and
to thank the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board  multidimensional  measure of export performance  and
and the New Zealand-United  States Educational Foundation  utideson  msr  f  r  rfrm 
for financial  support of this study.
Journal of Food Distribution Research  February 95/page  1

APPLEBAUM SCHOLARSHIP PAPER: EXPORT BEHAVIOR AND ATTITUDES OF AUSTRALASIA MEAT INDUSTRY FIRMS: A NORTH AMERICAN MARKET FOCUS

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