At what extent does management influence export performance? A meta-analysis of its determinants and dimensions

At what extent does management influence export performance? A meta-analysis of its determinants and dimensions. Magda Daniela Marques Corgas Andrade [email protected] Proposta de Dissertação Mestrado em Economia e Gestão Internacional Orientada por: Profª. Dr.ª Maria do Rosário Moreira Prof. Dr. Paulo Sérgio Amaral de Sousa 30-09-2013 i Short Biography Magda Andrade was born in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal, in 1988. She has her bachelor grade in Management, by the Faculty of Economics of the University of Porto (Portugal). She joined the Master in Economics and Management program in 2010 and since 2011 she is working at Sonae as Supplier’s Manager, involving activities of control and risk management. ii Abstract Being globalization an increasingly phenomenon present in economy, export success has become more crucial than it has ever been to a nation’s economic performance and prosperity Over the past three decades this tendency has stimulated a stream of academic researches that provided pertinent empirical evidence of the key issues and factors that contribute to the development and implementation of successful export strategies. One of the factors that has been widely recognized as most important in achieving the international strategic orientation is the key decision-makers, by the influence that their subjective characteristics (e.g., attitudes, perceptions, personality) and objective characteristics (e.g., knowledge, experience, networks) have in the internationalization process. This paper aims to empirically study the impact that management has on the export performance by the means of its own characteristics and also by the strategic power that influences how the firm performs. Knowing which are the dimensions that have greater impact on export performance, both public policies and firm’s decision makers can direct the available resources towards its enhancement. Keywords: internal managerial factors, export success and, SMEs, JEL-Codes: L21, M10, M16 iii Contents 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 6 2. DETERMINANTS OF EXPORT PERFORMANCE: Literature Review .... 9 2.1. ENVIRONMENT ................................................................................................. 9 2.2. FIRM CHARACTERISTICS ............................................................................. 10 2.2.1. Firm Size ............................................................................................... 11 2.2.2. Technology Level and Innovation ........................................................ 12 2.2.3. Organizational Structure ....................................................................... 12 2.2.4. Human Resources and Capabilities ....................................................... 14 2.2.5. Firm Experience / Knowledge .............................................................. 16 2.2.6. Export Market Orientation .................................................................... 18 2.2.7. Competitive Advantage ......................................................................... 19 2.3. EXPORT MARKETING STRATEGY .............................................................. 20 2.3.1. Marketing-mix Strategies ...................................................................... 21 2.3.2. Cooperative Relationships .................................................................... 23 2.3.3. Market Research .................................................................................... 24 2.3.4. Expansion Strategy ................................................................................ 26 2.4. MANAGERIAL CHARACTERISTICS ............................................................ 28 2.4.1. Age and Educational Level of Manager ................................................ 29 2.4.2. International Experience ....................................................................... 29 2.4.3. Managerial Skills .................................................................................. 30 iv 2.4.4. Managerial Subjective Characteristics .................................................. 31 2.4.5. Export Commitment .............................................................................. 33 2.5. EXPORT PERFORMANCE .............................................................................. 34 2.6. CONCEPTUAL MODEL ................................................................................... 35 3. METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................ 37 3.1. Study Selection ................................................................................................... 37 3.2. Coding Process ................................................................................................... 38 3.3. Sample Characteristics ........................................................................................ 39 4. ANALYSIS OF RESULTS ............................................................................... 42 4.1. Managerial Characteristics ................................................................................. 42 4.2. Export Marketing Strategy .................................................................................. 44 4.3. Firm Characteristics and Resources .................................................................... 46 4.4. Environmental Conditions .................................................................................. 48 4.5. Export Performance ............................................................................................ 49 5. CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................ 52 References ...................................................................................................................... 53 Figures Figure 1 - Conceptual Model ..................................................................................... 36 v Tables Table 1Research profile of export performance determinants ................................... 41 Table 2 - Impacts of Managerial Characteristics dimensions on Export Performance ........................................................................................................................................ 43 Table 3 - Impacts of Export Marketing Strategy dimensions on Export Performance 45 Table 4 - Impacts of Firm Characteristics dimensions on Export Performance ......... 47 Table 5 - Impacts of Environmental Conditions dimensions on Export Performance . 48 Table 6 - Combination of measure and type of export performance measures employed by the authors .................................................................................................................. 49 Table 7 - Impact of Determinants on Export Performance (classified by type) ........... 50 Table 8 - Impact of Determinants on Export Performance (classified by measure) .... 51 6 1. INTRODUCTION Context Aspects such as the dilution of trade barriers, trade deficit pressures, increasing competition at home, and limited domestic market opportunities give companies and countries a reason to look to foreign markets as viable and natural opportunities of reaping economies of scale and specialization, accessing new technology, and attracting foreign direct investment (Cooper and Kleinschmidt, 1985; Katsikeas and Piercy, 1995; De Chiara and Minguzzi, 2002; Rock and Ahmed, 2008): The increasing tendency towards a global economy highlight the interdependence of countries for resources, goods and commercial services but also exposes firms to the globalization of competition (Cavusgil and Zou, 1994; Moghaddam et al., 2011; Stoian et al., 2011). Because of subsequent performance difficulties, firm behavior and performance in export markets has received considerable research attention over the last two decades (Katsikeas and Piercy, 1995). Importance of Exporting The importance of exports stimulated several academic researches (Rock and Ahmed, 2008) that have acknowledge it as playing a vital role for both growth of a country’s economy and prosperity of the individual firms involved (Cavusgil, 1984; Dean et al., 2000; Moghaddam et al., 2011). On the opposite, long-term trade deficits have a serious impact on each country's well-being and international reputation (Dichtl et al., 1990) being this one of the reasons why since the 1960s many less developed nations have turned from inward-looking import substitution development strategies to export-led growth (Nakos et al., 1998). Exporting has been the most popular and fastest-growing mode of international market expansion strategy (Reid, 1983), specially preferred by smaller firms, once that (depending on the different levels of commitment) requires certain resources and capacities, which sometimes are scant. Also, it is associated with less risk and capital availability in comparison to alternative entry modes as establishing joint ventures and 7 overseas subsidiaries (Piercy et al., 1998; Dean et al., 2000; De Chiara and Minguzzi, 2002; Stoian et al., 2011; Jalali, 2012). Internal Managerial Factors Certain organizational characteristics and management motives appear to be the most useful antecedents of export performance (Axinn et al., 1995; Baldauf et al., 2000). In fact, there are several studies that emphasized management as the principal force behind the internationalization process and its success (Chetty and Hamilton, 1993; Zou and Stan, 1998) given the power concentration and their direct responsibility in international activities decisions (Reid, 1983; Cavusgil, 1984; Aaby and Slater, 1989; Leonidou et al., 1998). Therefore, recently it has been given much importance to internal managerial factors, such as characteristics, beliefs and perceptions of managers, attempting to identify their influence on firm-level export performance and behavior (Dichtl et al., 1990; Cavusgil and Zou, 1994; Naidu and Prasad, 1994; Axinn et al., 1995). Pertinence of study It is necessary to further investigate these issues so firms can better understand how to compose the strongest possible management teams to pursue rapid and dedicated internationalization (Katsikeas et al., 1997). Detailed analyses would, also, help the orientation of public policies endowing assistance programs or associations to be specifically tailored helping to bridge skill gaps of management (Loane et al., 2007; Fernandez-Ortiz and Lombardo, 2009). Accordingly, managers and policy-makers would be able to stimulate the economy considerably with decisions based on knowledge about the influence of internal factors on the export success of (Reid, 1983; Bijmolt and Zwart, 1994; Katsikeas and Piercy, 1995). For that purpose, this paper aims to contribute to the international management literature by addressing empirical evidences to the extent of relationship between export performance and management characteristics and decisions. In fact, the recognition of the problems and opportunities that management is exposed to and their limitations, is necessary to understand how they create effective strategic decisions in order to 8 accomplish firm’s growth through exporting and consequently export performance improvement (Cavusgil, 1984). The exposition will be made taking into account that the existing categorization of variables is equivocal (Bijmolt and Zwart, 1994), and thus it will be performed a codification at a great level of detail not to lose the context of information but also to be able to control the diversity. This will be made for all the determinants found having impact on performance, but also on the dependent variable. Since many studies only include a relatively limited number of factors important for the full conceptualization (Rock and Ahmed, 2008) there is still lack of consensus about the strength, significance, and generalization of relationships between all the determinants conducting export performance (Dean et al., 2000) To our best knowledge, it is the first time a study employs alternative proxies to assess this relationship with the importance of management on export performance. Moreover, this research aims to contribute to the firms’ export performance scientific field by adding empirical evidence and studying this relationship, in order to be able to adjust the public policy and the policy of the firms themselves. This work is structured as follows: besides this introduction, we review the relevant literature in next section determinants and dimensions and export performance measures employed (Section 2.). Then, in next section some methodological considerations are made (Section 3.) and in Section 4. analysis of gathered data is made. At the end, Section 5. presents the conclusions of this work. 15 with firm's performance (Theodosiou and Katsikea, 2007) however, not so many have studied yet the impact of these determinants on exporting performance. Coudounaris (2011) developed the export managerial psychology (EMP) which defends that export manager's performance can influence firm's export performance and that the company can, on its turn, influence the manager’s outcome performance. Indeed, financial and nonfinancial rewards are used to provide adequate compensation but also to improve level of morale, job satisfaction and motivate employees, factors that are linked to performance (Deng et al., 2003; Theodosiou and Katsikea, 2007). Successful exporting enterprises have been found to rely on formal control systems for monitoring performance (Deng et al., 2003). Accordingly, sales management control systems can be classified as outcome-based, which focuses on the results that the salesperson obtains regardless the methods of achievement, and as behavior-based in which the inputs and processes are managed with the primary goal of taking the best actions that influence the attitudes and behavior of export sales managers (Coudounaris, 2011). Performance appraisals system reward employees on export market-based criteria such as customer retention rates, customer satisfaction and market shares (Cicic et al., 2002) and provide to management data on employees’ performance. With this information, managers can evaluate the special training and assistance needed by employees to improve their work performance as also if the current policies are effective (Deng et al., 2003). Organizational Commitment As a consequence of job satisfaction, employees become more committed and motivated to serve organizational objectives instead of pursuing their self interest (Deng et al., 2003; Theodosiou and Katsikea, 2007; Coudounaris, 2011) besides, firm can take advantage of increased opportunities of interfunctional contact and cooperation (Cadogan et al., 2005). 16 2.2.5. Firm Experience / Knowledge International Experience The international experience is considered to be a key determinant factor on the level of commitment of companies to foreign markets, and particularly on export performance (Aaby and Slater, 1989; Nakos et al., 1998; Zou and Stan, 1998). However, previous research on the extent and direction of this relationship reveal confusing results. While some state consistently positive relationship (Brouthers and Nakos, 2005), others point out for mixed results (Stoian et al., 2011). It is also shown that past performance has a strong impact on firm behavior and future intentions as firms intend to continue with strategies that yielded good results before (Axinn et al., 1995). This, is due to the process of learning and knowledge accumulation that experience provide to the company and which in turns influences performance (Peyman et al., 2013). The learning with past experience can be divided in three kinds: market learning, social learning (contacts and networks), and technological learning (Yeoh, 2004) A competent firm, therefore, because of its international experience, knows the differences in environmental conditions and is more likely to select the most attractive markets (Sousa et al., 2008). Export Involvement The learning process, which is also illustrated by internationalization process models, is widely documented in the literature (Katsikeas and Piercy, 1995; Coviello and Munro, 1997). Actually, the stages model of internationalization that later was described by Johanson and Vahlne (1977) was adopted quickly into providing a dynamic model of export behavior by Bilkey and Tesar (1977). Under this approach the internationalization is described as a learning process of gradual development and accumulation of knowledge where exporting is merely regarded as an interim stage. Companies start with irregular export or exporting through agents, and as involvement and knowledge in foreign activities increases, overseas sales and production are established abroad as reflect of greater commitment (Bilkey and 17 Tesar, 1977; Johanson and Vahlne, 1977; Reid, 1981; Cavusgil, 1984; Schlegelmich and Crook, 1988; Louter et al., 1991; Styles and Ambler, 2000; Stoian et al., 2011). The stages above mentioned are described in terms of mode of entry or establishment in overseas markets but other authors applied them differently. (Reid, 1981) represented schematically as a five-stage hierarchy consisting of export awareness, export intention, trial, evaluation, and acceptance, while Cavusgil (1984) distinguishes three groups of companies based upon their level of export development: experimental involvement; active involvement; and committed involvement. All these stages models emphasized “experiential” knowledge (gathered through experience), and the incremental resource commitment of the firm which both represent export success elements (Katsikeas et al., 1997; Gençtürk and Kotabe, 2001). Thus, differences in export performance may be explained by different degrees of effort by internationalizing firms (Alvarez, 2004). Notwithstanding, the stage theory of internationalization has been criticized for laying on a weak empirical platform. Small firms rarely establish sales and production units on foreign markets because of investment constraints while others may never be possible to do it by product-specific characteristics. On the other hand many modern companies break traditional expectations that internationalization is a longstanding incremental process and achieve immediate internationalization or even are “born-global” (Louter et al., 1991; Boter, 2003; Andersson et al., 2004). International Diversification The U-Model by Johanson and Vahlne (1977) also suggests that international behavior is driven by psychic distance implying that as more experience is gained, decision makers will be able to start choosing new foreign markets with greater psychic distance. The international business literature associates international diversification with several benefits as economies of scale, scope, and experience, risk spreading, capacity to acquire cheaper inputs, arbitrage across country markets, and market coverage 18 (Herrmann and Datta, 2005). These benefits allow the firm to achieve higher export performance (Baldauf et al., 2000) and to build and sustain competitive advantage (Aulakh et al., 2000). Although these elements being considered success factors, researchers show no consensus on whether to concentrate or to diversify markets (Dean et al., 2000) because international environment is highly complex and in order to be involved in multiple countries managers are required to know and coordinate a large number of social, political, and cultural factors (Nakos et al., 1998; Shoham, 1999). 2.2.6. Export Market Orientation Export market oriented activities are necessary in order to firm be able to predict, identify, and to react efficiently to market environment changes (Cadogan et al., 2002; Rose and Shoham, 2002), however, only over recent years the assessment of nature and effects of market orientation have been focus of study (Thirkell and Dau, 1998). Yet, the results strongly suggest a significant impact on organizational performance (Cadogan et al., 1999; Akyol and Akehurst, 2003) and competitive advantage (Prasad et al., 2001). Export market orientation provides an integrated perspective which is conceptualized by three behavioral components focused on export customers, competitors, and the environmental changes affecting the firm (Cicic et al., 2002; Akyol and Akehurst, 2003), plus an interfuctional dimension of coordination: Export intelligence generation represents activities which constitute the creation of export market intelligence; export intelligence dissemination includes the activities which involve the sharing of export market intelligence; responsiveness, the responses to the intelligence that has been generated and disseminated; and the coordinating mechanism enclose several interrelated issues as communication and common understanding, a lack of dysfunctional conflict, organizational culture, co-operation, and common work-oriented goals (Cadogan et al., 1999). Cadogan et al. (2003) found that environment may moderate the effects that market orientation has on performance. In markets with low competitive intensity the costs of having market oriented activities may overcome potential benefits from it but in the 19 opposite, on high competitive markets, customers will switch to the firms that are more market-oriented. This is attributed to the fact that market oriented firms offer additional benefits for buyers that may be considered as potential sources of competitive advantages (Narver and Slater, 1990). 2.2.7. Competitive Advantage The Resource Based View, in which the firm resources and its unique combination within organizational capabilities are considered sources of competitive advantage (Caloghirou et al., 2004; Haahti et al., 2005; Stoian et al., 2011), is a growing perspective in international business which appropriateness and explanatory power for the study of export performance has been confirmed by numerous scholars (Dhanaraj and Beamish, 2003). The possession of competitive advantage, represented as assets and skills (Piercy et al., 1998), enables an exporter to identify the idiosyncrasies in the export markets, develop appropriate marketing strategy and execute it effectively towards performance (Cavusgil and Zou, 1994; Sousa et al., 2008), although, it cannot be forgotten the fact that competitive advantage reflect the pattern of past investments and efforts (Day and Wensley, 1988). Indeed, differential firm advantages as possession of superior skills and resources are not automatically converted into positional advantages or performance by itself (Cavusgil, 1984) it is necessary that the firm has the capacity to continually invest on sustaining the positional advantage (Day and Wensley, 1988; Katsikeas and Piercy, 1995). The results of studies that observe competitive advantages effects on export performance have shown mixed directions. This, may be explained by the fact that there is no single factor or clear definition that conceptualize competitive advantage (LingYee and Ogunmokun, 2001a), but also, by the impact that managerial perceptions can have on it (Jaffe and Pasternak, 1994). For example, when a firm is aware of the unique assets it possesses, it is likely that its advantages will be exploited (White et al., 1998), however, there are situations where the conditions for competitive exporting exist but management may perceive it differently. Also, it may happen that the competitive 20 advantage is recognized but it cannot be transferable across borders (Rock and Ahmed, 2008). Export competitive advantages may take the form of export channel relationships (Thirkell and Dau, 1998); scale advantages (Cavusgil, 1984; Moen, 1999); product superiority, such as better design, better packaging, better brand image abroad and competitive prices as lower unit cost, lower selling price to end-user abroad (Ling-Yee and Ogunmokun, 2001a); location advantage, in terms of physical distance to export markets and information centers as also psychological distance (Schlegelmich and Crook, 1988); and adequate export finance and technology (Piercy et al., 1998). 2.3. EXPORT MARKETING STRATEGY Several authors have shown that export market strategy play a dominant role on determining export performance (Reid, 1981; Cooper and Kleinschmidt, 1985; Cavusgil and Zou, 1994), as a mean by which management control the interplay of internal and external forces (as competitive market conditions) in order to meet the objectives (Cavusgil and Zou, 1994; Lee and Griffith, 2004). The export strategy is a complex determinant that varies within the different nature of firms, markets and industries (Cooper and Kleinschmidt, 1985), fact that may lead to inconsistent and even contradictory results when studying its impact on export performance. This conclusion is supported by the theory that superior performance is not achieved by the particular kind of strategy chosen but by the appropriate fit between strategy, firm strengths and its context (Cavusgil and Zou, 1994; Shoham et al., 2002; Sousa et al., 2008). In pursuing the export market strategy the firm uses as instruments the traditional elements of the marketing mix (Product, Price, Promotion, and Distribution/Place (O'cass and Julian, 2003; Lee and Griffith, 2004; Moghaddam et al., 2011; Peyman et al., 2013), as also the more recently proposed, market research and cooperative strategies. 21 2.3.1. Marketing-mix Strategies Strategic Decisions Cost leadership and differentiation concern how a firm uses a competitive advantage strategically with respect to competitors in an industry. When following a differentiation strategy more emphasis may be given at creating a product or service that customers see as unique in terms of brand image, technology, customer service, or innovative products. Low cost strategies on its turn require firms to keep lower prices to match competitors, which can be accomplished by reducing costs through improving operating efficiency or product quality (Aulakh et al., 2000; Baldauf et al., 2000) Higher profit may be achieved by differentiation once that this strategy has direct influence on customer loyalty that represents demand as price-inelastic (Aulakh et al., 2000) but also this strategy targets lower market share what may lead to lower sales (Baldauf et al., 2000). Both cost and differentiation strategies are influenced by the strategic decision of adaptation or standardization (Louter et al., 1991; Nakos et al., 1998). Adaptation is another instrumental strategy that seeks the goal achievement of firm. Involves changing the elements or components of the marketing mix used in domestic country to suit specific targeted market needs (Cooper and Kleinschmidt, 1985; Aulakh et al., 2000; Albaum and Tse, 2001) which conduct company to create greater competitive advantage (Peyman et al., 2013). Standardization, as opposite strategy of adaptation, is supported by the fact that there are fewer costs involved and that market and tastes are converging, even though there are some critics to this conceptualization (Shoham, 1999). The choice of which strategy to use is influenced in a large extent by subjective perceptions. The more a firm perceives that a particular marketing-mix component is instrumental to its success, more efforts will be addressed in order to ensure that serves its customers (Albaum and Tse, 2001). Researches on the impact of strategy adaptation and firm’s performance have pointed out to inconsistent results (Zou and Stan, 1998; Aulakh et al., 2000; Albaum and Tse, 22 2001). Some researchers defend that adaptation brings better chances of success to the company (Styles and Ambler, 1994) and export performance (Cooper and Kleinschmidt, 1985; Lee and Griffith, 2004). Though, others argue that adaptation works for some but not all components of a firm's marketing strategy, requiring the need to assess which and how much to adapt each component to (Albaum and Tse, 2001). Product Product adaptation has received most of the attention in the standardization literature (Lages, 2000). Firm’s adapt their products in order to fight intense competitive pressure (Cavusgil and Zou, 1994; O'cass and Julian, 2003), to meet cross-border differences of customer’s needs and consequently to increase customer satisfaction and overall performance (Cavusgil and Zou, 1994; Shoham, 1999), although firms may attempt to sell overseas the same products that they sell sold at domestic country (Nakos et al., 1998). Other dimensions of product that have been described as antecedents of success are augmented product factors, as pos sales services (Leonidou et al., 2002); product uniqueness and product novelty (Amason et al., 2006). Price Engaging pricing adaptation allows a firm to adjust to local competitive conditions and local market fluctuations, advantage that result in better export performance (Christensen et al., 1987; Louter et al., 1991; Leonidou et al., 2002; Lee and Griffith, 2004). Although, Shoham (1999) notes that adapting price enhances performance only when it is higher than domestic prices, having the opposite effect when it is lower (Shoham, 1999). Price has also been study in terms of competitive pricing methods (Aaby and Slater, 1989) concentrated on penetrating foreign market by offering low price and obtain market share (Moghaddam et al., 2011) notwithstanding, Cavusgil and Zou (1994) found that managers are not resorting to price as a competitive weapon. Promotion 23 Promotion adaptation is prompted largely by market pressures such as media availability (Cavusgil and Zou, 1994) and has been shown as enhancing greater international performance (Shoham, 1999; Moghaddam et al., 2011) based on the justification that through advertising procedures an exporter can stimulate sales (Lee and Griffith, 2004). Also exporting commitment is emphasized once that advertising expenditures can become critical but are essential to establish brand familiarity in foreign markets (Lee and Griffith, 2004). In spite of advertising and promotion adaptation be the most widely researched variables under the promotion-mix outcomes, others have also been acknowledge: sales promotion, personal selling, trade fairs and personal visits (Leonidou et al., 2002). Export Channel and Distribution Distribution is an environmental conditioned variable (Shoham, 1999) that stresses management on the need to strengthen export channel structure capabilities and relations (Cavusgil and Zou, 1994; Yeoh and Jeong, 1995). When the export market is competitive, supporting the distributor/subsidiary is particularly important to ensure adequate promotion, timely delivery, and proper maintenance and service (O'cass and Julian, 2003). Export channel structures are defined as the arrangement of workflow, communication, and authority relationships within the exporter-distributor relationship (Robertson and Chetty, 2000) and can be classified as direct, which has advantages as knowledge acquisition and increased export profitability; and indirect exporting, through independent intermediary (Lee and Griffith, 2004). The conceptualization of this marketing mix element is very connected with cooperative relationships, which is the topic that will be developed in the next subsection and that will evidence some of the same players of distribution strategy. 2.3.2. Cooperative Relationships Reliance on external relationships has shown considerable growth in recent years, becoming a central strategy for many organizations (Coviello and Munro, 1997). The 24 issue has also been widely studied and found as significant (Hutchinson et al., 2006), although terms such as collaborative/cooperative arrangements, clusters/networks, and strategic alliances are often used interchangeably (Haahti et al., 2005). Social capital theory suggests that direct personal contacts and networks are not only fundamental for international operations but also, may play a greater role in the international performance (Yeoh, 2004). Actually, it can be argued that success in export markets will rely on the ability to initiate and sustain strong and mutually beneficial relationships (O'cass and Julian, 2003). These extra organizational linkages may include customers, distributors, competitors and suppliers as partners (Haahti et al., 2005) and are often motivated by the need to gather experiential knowledge (Ling-Yee and Ogunmokun, 2001b), once that such relationships can help in creating awareness of international opportunities, exposing decision makers to additional information (Reid, 1983; Ling-Yee, 2004) which enhance foreign market selection by providing the mechanism to support market entry (Calof, 1994) and facilitate better decision making (Styles and Ambler, 1994). It may be also expected, that after the initial knowledge share and after experiencing the strong market performance, each part begin to desire greater control in network relationships and. autonomy (Coviello and Munro, 1997). For this reason, key elements for sustaining it as success strategy are the inclusion of the important actors in the network, the intensity of the relationships (relationship satisfaction, cooperation, conflict and communication), the degree of reciprocity in decision making and the extent of long-term commitment between actors (Styles and Ambler, 1994; Styles and Ambler, 2000). 2.3.3. Market Research Decision making intelligence Taking into account the complexity and uncertainty of the export related decision making process (Stoian et al., 2011; Peyman et al., 2013) several approaches have been adopted towards defining the relationship between research activity and export outcome (Schlegelmich and Crook, 1988). The export market knowledge and the ability to learn 31 Management is contingent to a large degree on the particular market environment (Reid, 1981) arising from that the need for managers to possess dynamic skills that permit to effectively analyze firm’s competitive arena (Stoian et al., 2011). Also, functional specialization represents critical knowledge skills and experience, essential to activities, which are many times shaped by previous functional backgrounds (Herrmann and Datta, 2005; Hutchinson et al., 2006). For management activity itself, effectiveness is expected from those managers who demonstrate skills as being participatory, hard driving, nurturing, competitive, flexible and creative while also being controlled, stable and rational (Analoui et al., 2000). These critical skills are interrelated, supporting one another and allowing flexibility in managing diverse situations. 2.4.4. Managerial Subjective Characteristics Attitudinal Characteristics Management perceptions and attitudes appear to be one of the most important managerial determinants for export success. Indeed, studies have presented a substantial number of results pointing to the conclusion that manager's personality shape the international enrolment of companies (Boter, 2003). In particular, attitudes as risktaking tendencies, innovativeness, entrepreneurship, proactivity and creativity lead to higher export performance as managers are more likely to respond favorably to export stimuli and become successful exporters (Cavusgil, 1984; Aaby and Slater, 1989; Axinn et al., 1995; Leonidou et al., 1998; Cicic et al., 2002; Hutchinson et al., 2006; Stoian, 2007). The internationalization process is determined by the international orientation of the decision maker (Lloyd-Reason and Mughan, 2002). In part, this orientation may result from the overseas experience mentioned above but mostly it represents the evaluation of the degree of perceived difference between foreign and domestic markets along economic, cultural, political, and market-strategic dimensions (Reid, 1981; Jaffe and Pasternak, 1994). Perceived similarities and/or differences related to domestic market situation and potential foreign market have generally been acknowledged as predictors of export success (Aaby and Slater, 1989; Stoian et al., 2011). Perceptions Sources 32 Perceived psychic distance is related to export development models (Louter et al., 1991) from the conceptualization that both share the same determinants: knowledge and experience. It is expected from the theory that becoming more involved with exports, managers become increasingly more optimistic, revising their previous expectations of risk (Cavusgil, 1984). However, in the critical initial stages less experienced firms or those with lack of the relevant market information may perceive higher risks that limit the ability of managers to effectively seek, identify and exploit potential risks and returns of overseas markets, and consequently, lead to unsatisfactory export performance levels (Bonaccorsi, 1992; Katsikeas and Piercy, 1995). Export barriers The level of exporting barriers that company perceive and the way it deals with it is one explanation why some companies export and others don’t (Boter, 2003; Alvarez, 2004). Although studies demonstrate that its impact on export performance is not conclusive (Dean et al., 2000), it is important to achieve a better understanding of export barriers, since it threats the efficiency and effectiveness of a firm’s operations (Jalali, 2012). Perceived barriers to exports seem to lie within the management (cost, risk and complexity perceptions) which is in turn influenced by contextual factors associated with firm size, resources and capability, export involvement and international experience (Cavusgil, 1984; Leonidou et al., 1998; Jalali, 2012). But it is important to note that besides perceptions the existence of actual barriers creates a negative environment, in which the international firm has to operate (Cicic et al., 2002). These kinds of obstacles have been divided in the literature into different types: internal to firms, internal to country, and external (Alvarez, 2004); internal resource problems, procedural and distribution difficulties, foreign market factors, knowledge and experience problems, legal and political, and management considerations (Dean et al., 2000). The most active factors in export barriers are bureaucracy requirements and competition in overseas markets (Jalali, 2012). Goals and Aspirations 33 Management's determination and the importance it places in pursuing and achieving basic business goals such as profits, growth, and diversification can be crucial to export market performance (Cavusgil, 1984). Also, positive attitudes and beliefs from management towards the effects of exports and opportunities will bring stronger development in exports (Boter, 2003; Stoian et al., 2011). Once the firm reaches a certain export involvement, and when management within the organization see their success tied to the success of the firm’s export operations, the importance of export market intelligence generated and disseminated will also be higher (Cadogan et al., 2002) in order to sustain the progress though the internationalization stages. This export impetus is represented by the perceived profits which support the theory that beliefs are considered to play the intermediary role of relating previous exporting experience or knowledge, with future intentions to continue, expand, or discontinue exporting (Axinn et al., 1995). 2.4.5. Export Commitment Following the underlying assumption of the gradualist approach, higher degree of export involvement implies greater commitment to the export activities. For that purpose, several studies have been addressed to managerial and organizational commitment and consequent outcomes being emphasized its extreme importance to export performance as it allows a firm to explore export market opportunities and to pursue effective export marketing strategies (Cavusgil and Zou, 1994; Axinn et al., 1995; Zou and Stan, 1998; Stoian et al., 2011). To ensure regular exporting operations to overseas markets it is important to note that activities abroad may be different than domestic, requiring more or new resources or even the division of the existent ones through all markets. Accordingly, commitment has been represented in the literature by the favorable orientation, deliberate interest, and a willingness to allocate sufficient resources to export-related activities (Cavusgil, 1984; Leonidou et al., 1998). An export committed organization requires that the firm devote not only financial, technologic and human resources (Albaum and Tse, 2001) as also management care (Cavusgil, 1984) for activities such as export planning and control (O'cass and Julian, 34 2003), export department organization, export marketing research , regular export market visits (Katsikeas and Piercy, 1995) and efforts towards information accumulation and dissemination (Richey and Myers, 2001; Dhanaraj and Beamish, 2003). These activities have a great influence on international activities of the firm so it is essential to management direct efforts towards it. Planning, reviewing, and developing strategies provide long-term consistency with corporate plans, assignment of responsibility for execution, communication of objectives, and organizational commitment to the agreed-to plan (Shoham, 1999; Andersson et al., 2004). Managerial commitment in exporting appears to be a key element in determining export success (Sousa et al., 2008) because if management does not believe in the importance of internationalization, it is likely that there will be lack of support resulting on unsuccessful activities (Nakos et al., 1998) otherwise, firm export performance is expected to be enhanced (Dichtl et al., 1990; Louter et al., 1991). Hence, an enduring managerial commitment will be recognized by whole organization as a system of shared values and beliefs about exporting importance for success which leads to an organizational export commitment (Cadogan et al., 2005). 2.5. EXPORT PERFORMANCE Several broad approaches are used as measure of export performance, but there is no agreement on which is the most appropriate, what represents the need for further research on the potential relationship existing between different export performance dimensions/assessment modes (Cavusgil and Zou, 1994; Sousa et al., 2008; Jalali, 2012) once that depending on the measure utilized, different hypotheses may be supported (Nakos et al., 1998). Katsikeas et al. (2000) and Sousa (2004) divided export performance similarly economic (objective), noneconomic (subjective) and generic measures, dividing then per sales, profit, market share, product related and miscellaneous. As result, found that the most used are the export sales ratio (export intensity), which fall into the category of sales-related economic measures. 35 Export intensity represents export sales as percent of total corporate sales (Cooper and Kleinschmidt, 1985; Bijmolt and Zwart, 1994; Nakos et al., 1998; Zou and Stan, 1998) and is widely used in the literature. However, it needs to be taken into consideration that export intensity is not a comprehensive measure of export performance but merely provides a partial and static picture of what is essentially a muldimensional/dynamic concept (Reid, 1983; Rock and Ahmed, 2008). Zou and Stan (1998) grouped the measures of export performance into seven categories, representing financial static measures (export intensity, profit), financial dynamic (growth), subjective measures based on beliefs and perceptions (success, satisfaction, goal achievement) and composite scales measures that are based on overall scores of a variety of performance measures. Shoham (1998) on his turn has divided the measures on sales, profitability and Change, that include sales and profitability. 2.6. CONCEPTUAL MODEL Based on the variables mentioned before, it was constructed the following conceptual model for the study of export performance determinants: 36 Figure 1 - Conceptual Model 37 3. METHODOLOGY Shoham (2003) in a similar study identified two types of meta-analysis accordingly to the purpose of the study: first when the focus of study is the impact of methodological features; and second type when it intended to make empirical generalizations, from multiple study. The second type was thus employed as meta-analytic techniques allow to synthesize the findings from any set of past studies on the subject, rather than primary data, and provide an estimate of the strength of the association between a dependent and an independent variable (Chetty and Hamilton, 1993). These were then aggregated to examine the extent and direction of those relationships allowing the understanding of the different effects that measures may have on results. A range of meta-analytic techniques is available to synthesize the findings from any set of studies and provide an estimate of "effect size", i.e. the strength of the association between a dependent and an independent variable These individual effect sizes may then be weighted by effective sample sizes in order to produce a single measure (weighted average) of the strength of the relationship under scrutiny 3.1. Study Selection To gather the necessary information there were reviewed 97 studies on the internationalization literature. Firstly, it was selected an initial sample to get acquainted about the diversity of determinants existent on the literature. This initial sample had 17 studies as result and was found through databases as SCOPUS, EBSCO, Emerald and JSTOR by the search of the key words export, performance. The goal at that point was to have a sample that could improve the understanding of literature heterogeneity, had been chosen for that purpose researches from several publishers between the years of 1983 to 2012. After this review it was made a new search by the same way as before but now including other key words as internal, determinants, and managerial what increased the sample to 59 studies. Lastly, in order to complete the sampling process there were searched 38 specific works that had been cited on the until then review works. This 38 snow-ball effect aimed to support some of the theories reviewed in the others that seemed relevant for better understanding of the concepts as a whole. Also some of those were found to be conducted in a similar way that this, so it was interesting to analyze how the same kind of questions were addressed. From the ninety seven studies reviewed only 69 were employed in this work, as some were found to not have all the necessary criteria as follows: a. The dependent variables had to represent by any mean the export performance; b. The study had to provide the impact of the identified determinants on export performance; c. The way how export performance was measured had to be clear; d. Results should contain information about their p-value. 3.2. Coding Process In order to reduce coding error the conceptual model developed above accordingly to the literature review, was used as a form to structure the specific information that was necessary from each study and how to categorize it. This procedure follows the same that Huang and Tsai (2013) and Leonidou et al. (2002) have used. The coding form was divided into three parts, the first related to a set of key characteristics, as year of study, geographic focus, company size, industry, response rate number of determinants variables used and number of export performance variables used. The second part contained the list of variables of export performance determinants, and the third the list of variables of export performance. When making the literature review, it stood out the problematic of variables concepts, once that many times the same determinant name was categorized or interpreted differently from one author to the other. This revealed the necessity of greater level of detail when gathering the information, so the codification wouldn’t be arbitrary by the name given, but by the measure used. 39 However, it is also a fact that authors may employ the same measure as proxy of different determinants, for example, the number of exported markets may be used as proxy for export performance, diversification strategy, or international experience. In this case, to avoid losing information by placing it out of its context, the data of export determinants was structured on these categories: Measure/Question, Dimension, Determinant and Group, influence, sample size for the specific determinant (sometimes there were unanswered questions so the determinants could have different sample size than the whole), number of degrees of freedom, degree of the relationship with export performance, using p-value and its positive or negative direction. The p-value, number of degrees of freedom and sample size were later disregarder as there wasn’t enough information about the level that they weren’t significant. Each Measure/Question used by author corresponded to a new entry into the database to which was given a unique ID for the initial information be able to be tracked even after codification. When some author used the same determinant with more than one dependent variable the entry was doubled but maintaining this same ID. The results were 2102 entries that were coded in 4 classes, 25 determinants and 118 dimensions Table 1(Table 2 to Table 4). Concerning the export performance measures, the codification was made in two ways, the first related with the type of information second related to the kind of measure. This division was made as an adaptation of the various models reviewed in last chapter. The 98 dependent variables were coded into 4 types and 4 measures of export performance. 3.3. Sample Characteristics The sample analyzed has a geographic focus on studies of American and European firms that were conducted within the years of 1977 to 2013. Most studies don’t identify or discriminate how many industries are analyzed, or refer only researching on manufacturers, being in this case coded as well as not available. There were 2 studies that were directed to services and they were treated as 1 specific industry. Company size evidences that major interest is focused on the conditions and challenges for small firms because even having fewer capacities, resources and market 40 power they have recognized importance to proportion of world exports, economic growth, innovation, job and wealth creation in most countries (Bijmolt and Zwart, 1994; Axinn et al., 1995; Katsikeas et al., 1997; Stoian et al., 2011).), while small attention is given to large company. Methodologically, most studies used sample sizes from 100 to 300, obtained response rates above 50% and used between 4 to 6 determinants variables against 1 performance measure. Thus is may be argued that this data is consistent for a meta-analysis. 47 + - n.s. Firm Characteristics and Resources 167 33 125 Firm Demographics 29 8 40 Firm Size 17 4 25 Firm Age 5 3 10 Export dependence 5 2 Location 1 Past Performance 2 1 2 Innovation and Technology Levels 11 6 8 Technological intensity 2 R&D efforts 4 1 2 Information Systems 1 Production capability 2 2 Licenses and Patents 1 1 2 Innovation Level 4 1 2 Financial Capability 4 1 3 Financial Capability 2 1 1 Investment Capacity 2 1 Exporting financial assets 1 Human Resources and Capabilities 9 2 6 Employee Selection 2 1 Control and Reward Systems 3 Job Satisfaction and morale 1 1 Training and Education 3 2 4 Organizational Structure 6 3 6 Centralization 1 Coordination 4 1 2 TMT Composition 4 Ownership structure 1 2 International Diversification 9 7 Exported Markets 5 3 Exporting Transactions 2 2 Customers 2 2 International Experience 36 9 14 Experience and Knowledge 7 2 3 Export Involvement Degree 4 1 Scope 6 Length 11 6 9 Specialization 3 Market coverage 5 1 1 Competitive Advantage Factors 29 3 18 Marketing Mix Strategy 10 2 7 Marketing Capability 4 Cost Strategy 4 1 2 Financial Capability 2 3 Innovation and Technology levels 4 3 Firm Characteristics 5 3 Export Market Orientation 34 1 23 Competitors Orientation 2 1 Customer Orientation 3 1 Profit Orientation 1 Export Intelligence generation 8 5 Export Intelligence dissemination 4 9 Export Intelligence responsiveness 10 4 Export Interfunctional interactions 6 1 3 Table 4 - Impacts of Firm Characteristics dimensions on Export Performance 48 Human resources and capabilities are related to a positive impact, mostly because on the emphasis put on control and reward systems what are essential to keep high levels of morale and job satisfaction, thus greater commitment to the firm’s goals and strategy. Organizational Structure also has limited observations, and the one it has does not find significant impact. Change, overall performance, perception measure and composite sales are the dimensions that validate the positive impact of firm characteristics. Profitability and financial measure have as insignificant impact as positive. Sales and market, and satisfaction and achievement have more insignificant relations than positive. 4.1. Environmental Conditions As expected, environmental conditions were found to be the least class of determinants studied. The observations lead to contradictory results which prompt for the need of further investigation in order to better understand the extent that industry and export market characteristics really constitute a threat to the company or a source of opportunities. + - n.s. Environmental Conditions 14 9 22 Industry Characteristics 11 7 15 Environmental Dynamism 1 1 3 Demand Pressures 2 2 3 Competitive Intensity 2 2 3 Technological intensity 6 2 6 Export Market Characteristics 3 2 7 Market Similarity 1 Export Market Attractiveness 1 2 Export Market competitive intensity 2 1 4 Legal-Political Environment 1 Table 5 - Impacts of Environmental Conditions dimensions on Export Performance All the dimensions of measure and type of export performance converge to the conclusions stated. 49 4.2. Export Performance Analyzing export performance employed by each author in terms of type and measure, it is shown that the most used way to measure export performance is the financial measure, and the most used type of information is the overall performance. The financial measure was usually employed on sales and market types of information and the overall performance was mostly assessed by perception measures. Profitability was generally measured by perception, while change was measured financially. Composite scales and satisfaction and achievement (which include both financial information and perceptions) were almost exclusively applied to overall performance. Export Performance Overall performance Sales and Market Change Profitability Total Financial Measure 4 24 13 5 46 Perception Measure 18 5 7 11 41 Composite scale 9 1 3 1 14 Satisfaction and Achievement 7 2 2 2 13 Total 38 32 25 19 114 Table 6 - Combination of measure and type of export performance measures employed by the authors 50 Export Performance Indicator (classified by type) + - n.s. + - n.s. + - n.s. + - n.s. Environmental Conditions 6 3 4 10 4 4 4 9 3 4 7 9 4 1 7 Industry Characteristics 3 3 1 5 2 2 2 8 3 4 6 7 3 1 6 Export Market Characteristics 3 3 5 2 2 2 1 1 2 1 1 Firm Characteristics and Resources 46 40 10 29 47 58 619 29 24 625 55 45 11 52 Firm Demographics 14 9 2 13 12 8 1 6 8 5 1 5 15 7 4 16 Innovation and Technology Levels 4 3 2 1 2 2 1 1 1 3 5 5 3 4 Financial Capability 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 2 Human Resources and Capabilities 2 3 1 3 2 1 1 1 5 4 1 4 Organizational Structure 3 1 2 3 3 1 4 1 3 4 2 1 1 International Diversification 3 3 4 3 2 1 0 2 4 2 International Experience 12 9 4 3 10 10 3 2 5 6 3 14 11 2 6 Competitive Advantage Factors 3 4 1 3 9 19 1 6 3 3 1 3 3 3 6 Export Market Orientation 4 7 3 4 12 2 5 7 1 7 6 8 11 Export Marketing Strategy 20 21 10 740 35 14 17 15 12 511 26 18 12 9 Product/Service Strategy 3 4 1 9 8 3 2 4 2 2 1 4 1 2 1 Price strategy 2 1 2 6 4 5 4 0 1 1 Promotion and Positioning Strategy 1 1 7 5 2 2 1 1 1 3 3 2 Distribution and Export Channel Strategy 4 4 2 1 9 8 1 4 3 3 1 1 5 2 1 2 Market Research and Expansion 10 11 5 6 9 10 3 5 7 6 2 8 13 12 6 6 Managerial Characteristics 24 24 12 10 32 39 11 15 23 14 416 35 36 14 31 Age 3 2 1 2 1 1 4 1 1 2 2 2 Educational Level 4 3 1 1 1 4 2 2 2 1 1 International Exposure/Experience 1 2 2 2 1 5 5 1 3 5 5 5 Managerial Skills and Know-How 1 3 3 2 1 2 2 4 2 2 Perceptions toward export barriers 5 2 6 7 5 7 6 4 2 1 2 8 2 12 14 Perceptions on exporting effects 2 3 3 4 2 1 1 2 4 10 2 Goals and Aspirations 2 4 1 2 0 3 8 1 Perceived instrumentality to success 2 4 2 1 5 4 0 0 Export Commitment 4 3 2 1 14 19 2 3 4 4 1 3 7 8 2 4 Number of papers Number of papers Sales and Market Profitability Overall performance Change Number of papers Count Count Count Count Number of papers Table 7 - Impact of Determinants on Export Performance (classified by type) 51 Export Performance Indicator (classified by measure) + - n.s. + - n.s. + - n.s. + - n.s. Environmental Conditions 4 2 2 14 6 2 9 12 6 6 5 4 1 6 Industry Characteristics 1 1 11 5 2 7 9 5 5 4 2 4 Export Market Characteristics 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 1 1 2 1 2 Firm Characteristics and Resources 24 37 112 83 66 19 66 54 57 12 31 16 7 1 16 Firm Demographics 6 3 4 25 13 624 12 11 2 5 6 2 7 Innovation and Technology Levels 1 1 7 6 4 5 4 4 2 3 0 Financial Capability 0 2 2 2 3 2 1 1 0 Human Resources and Capabilities 2 1 1 4 5 1 4 5 3 1 1 0 Organizational Structure 1 1 8 2 1 5 4 2 2 1 1 1 International Diversification 1 1 5 7 6 1 1 1 1 International Experience 5 7 1 19 15 4 6 13 13 3 5 4 1 1 3 Competitive Advantage Factors 3 11 3 7 6 3 6 5 11 5 3 1 4 Export Market Orientation 5 12 4 6 10 8 7 10 110 1 2 1 Export Marketing Strategy 7 5 2 2 45 35 28 17 34 35 521 15 11 6 4 Product/Service Strategy 2 3 8 4 5 1 8 6 2 3 2 2 1 Price strategy 2 1 2 4 1 6 1 3 2 2 1 1 Promotion and Positioning Strategy 2 1 1 3 1 3 4 5 2 3 3 1 Distribution and Export Channel Strategy 1 1 8 6 3 3 8 7 5 4 3 2 Market Research and Expansion 0 22 23 11 13 13 14 3 9 4 2 2 3 Managerial Characteristics 710 4 4 63 59 31 35 27 33 615 17 11 18 Age 0 8 4 4 3 1 2 0 Educational Level 0 7 4 3 4 2 2 0 International Exposure/Experience 0 8 11 3 3 2 1 1 2 1 5 Managerial Skills and Know-How 0 5 4 3 3 2 1 2 1 1 Perceptions toward export barriers 2 1 3 2 12 419 16 4 7 2 5 2 4 Perceptions on exporting effects 1 2 5 12 2 3 1 3 1 4 Goals and Aspirations 0 6 12 2 1 0 0 Perceived instrumentality to success 0 2 4 2 1 5 4 0 Export Commitment 4 7 1 2 10 8 4 5 7 11 2 8 8 4 Number of papers Count Composite scale Financial Measure Perception Measure Satisfaction and Achievement Number of papers Count Number of papers Count Number of papers Count Table 8 - Impact of Determinants on Export Performance (classified by measure) 52 5. CONCLUSIONS From this study, management can influence the decision making process by composing the team which gathers the characteristics and skills that most influence export performance positively. Thus, they can also control for which environmental conditions can threat their activities as also which can favor possible opportunities. When making decisions on strategies that will conduct the firm through the prosecution of goals and objectives, they should consider to leverage it on the firm characteristics that shown supporting better export performance. For policy makers, this study helps providing greater detail to the specific dimension that should be enhanced. Results showed that policies should be directed towards knowledge, as it plays the key role for effective decision making, greater level of commitment in export activities and reduces perceived export barriers. 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