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This study aims to develop a new internationalisation model to describe the exporting and non-exporting behaviours of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and then applying it to a sample of UK SMEs. The conceptual model consists of four forces leading to a successful business.

The sample is a stratified one taken from KOMPASS directory and focussing on the Greater Manchester area. In total, 250 firms were chosen to be the population of this survey. In total, 110 surveys were received by email i.e. 24 non-exporters and 86 exporters that were fully completed.

The four forces of the model include the non-exporting activity, the activity before and after the first export order, differences and similarities between non-exporters and exporters and the regular exporting activity. This model’s findings demonstrate important empirical determinants related to four forces, which, in turn, shape the successful exporting activity.

The empirical evidence from the study suggests that the major differences between non-exporters and exporters, which include the differences in management perceptions towards exporting, and the differences and similarities of firm and management characteristics, explain only to some degree what constitutes successful exporting behaviour. The model is considered useful for smaller businesses located in the UK. The study highlights the importance of firms before and after the first export order, which provides insights for managers of firms about going through with the first export order rather than withdrawing from this effort. The study reveals the motivations for exporting, the timing, the modes through which firms export, firms’ management characteristics and attitudinal differences between exporters and non-exporters, which are essential for practitioners.

To examine the particular organizational and managerial determinants of the different aspects of a firm's export development process: intention, propensity, and intensity.

The study analysed firms' resources and capabilities, managerial characteristics, and managerial attitude and perceptions in a sample of 286 firms in the Spanish wine industry. Statistical analyses using SPSS were carried out to confirm or reject eight hypotheses.

Results confirmed that factors influencing export involvement are not the same along the process of export development.

The study is limited to one context, and it is static (cross‐sectional) in nature.

Implications not only for practitioners (especially, managers), but also for policy makers, are discussed.

First, the research has been conducted in Spain, a country for which export development process has not been widely studied. Second, three aspects of export development have been analysed at the same time: intention, propensity, and intensity. And third, the effect of industry‐specific characteristics on internal export factors has been isolated through the selection of one industry in one country for the empirical research.

Introduction Perhaps the most significant economic transformation within the last three decades has been the internationalization of business. From the modest levels of the 1950s, the volume of world trade has exploded to over $2 trillion, and the sales of foreign affiliates of US firms have reached $500 billion by 1983 (Terpstra 1983). Yet, even in the light of accelerated efforts to further stimulate US exporters (e.g., the Export Trading Company Act of 1982), a recent Dunn and Bradstreet survey showed that less than 1% of the US firms had engaged in exporting in 1982 (Trade Marks, 1983). Similarly, the International Trade Administration of the US Department of Commerce has lamented that only 5% of all US manufacturers will have engaged in export marketing in 1984.

This article focuses on the relevant demographics, attitudes, behaviours, and concerns of small‐medium sized exporting and non‐exporting firms in Singapore in an attempt to determine whether measures can be developed to nurture non‐exporters into exporters. The findings suggest that while basic differences in demographics exist between the two groups, the attitudinal and behavioural differences are acquired. Therefore, programmes may be developed to nurture non‐exporting firms to be export‐oriented.

Attempts to provide a better explanation of differences in diverse export behaviour among similar operating firms in the same country. Wishes to compensate for deficiencies by analysing determinants of behaviour of exporting firms by: controlling for country‐specific; and industry‐specific influences on them. Tests the hypothesis and chosen research approaches which are based on earlier results. Discusses the use of a four‐part questionnaire designed with 194 independent variables and how this was sent to 1,500 managing directors of British and German food‐processing and mechanical engineering firms ‐ there were, by June 1982, 310 replies. Compares extracted sets of discriminating variables to validate by test established hypothesis. Identifies six key influences on export behaviour and concludes that the chosen research approach is an important step towards model building. Finally, states that future researchers will find scope to refine results further, and in more detail and uses a Likert scale with nine concepts.

During the last decade a substantial number of empirical research studies on export performance have been conducted. This article reviews 55 of these studies, summarises the findings according to a “strategic export model”, synthesises current knowledge, and suggests directions for future export research activities.

Focuses on the relationship between managerialattitudes towards exporting and exporting behaviour. A basic premiss is that the widely held assumption of a positive relationship between managerial attitudes and behaviour in exporting does not hold true in all circumstances, implying that in some cases a negative or no relationship between attitude and behaviour in exporting can be expected. Survey responses from a sample of manufacturing firms in Illinois support the basic premiss herein. Furthermore, the magnitude of attitude‐behaviour discrepancy among industrial firms was estimated to be sizeable among non‐exporting firms. Concludes with research, managerial, and policy implications of these findings.

This study is concerned with an empirical investigation that explores the barriers to export that emerging market entrepreneurs face when engaging in international business. The data was gathered from a survey of 214 manufacturing firms, headquartered in Malaysia, and considered to be an emerging market. Statistical analysis was carried out using one‐way analysis of variance and the Tukey‐Kramer Multiple Comparison Procedure. The study’s key findings indicate that exporters and non‐exporters perceive the importance of the need to adapt products to meet foreign customer preferences and a lack of capacity dedicated to a continuing supply of exports differently as barriers to export. However, other than those barriers to export the study findings indicate no significant differences in the perceptions of exporters and non‐exporters from an emerging market towards the different barriers to export.

Services represent the fastest growing portion of the world economy, yet they are still vastly under‐represented in the export packages of most countries. Services present unique challenges that make exporting potentially more difficult and riskier than for goods industries, yet they also offer huge untapped potential with very little research done in this area. This study develops hypotheses regarding the exporting decisions of services companies using qualitative interviews and the exporting literature. These are then tested through a survey of nearly 700 consulting engineering firms. Nearly 90 per cent of the exporting firms in the sample are happy with the performance of their exporting programs, yet nearly three‐quarters of the firms are not exporting. Overcoming limitations in know‐how and resources, developing positive attitudes about exporting, recognizing foreign opportunities and fostering management commitment to exporting are found to be the most important determinants of exporting behavior for professional services firms.

This study aims to examine internationalisation pathways of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) based on a sample from Manchester, UK, and it provides an exercise theory testing of the Uppsala model with data from SMEs from Manchester. It investigates the existence of new internationalisation pathways and the parallel use of four dimensions, namely, export intensity, export destination, time dimension and number of export markets.

The suggested model of international pathways is developed based on a survey of 110 firms located in the Greater Manchester area. The study of the population was based on a stratified sample of firms included in the KOMPASS directory in the Greater Manchester area. t-Test analysis was performed on combinations of the six pathways.

The results reveal that SMEs follow a pattern of internationalisation pathways consisting of non-exporters, traditional small exporters, traditional medium exporters, accelerated medium exporters, born globals and declining exporters. The paper concludes that the Uppsala model does not apply in this study.

There is evidence of a new pathway, i.e. accelerated medium exporters and the CEOs of Manchester SMEs, and governmental authorities in the UK should consider targeting this group or developing appropriate export promotion programmes.