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The export entry behaviour of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is a complex behaviour that requires specific tools for a holistic investigation. Thus far, there are inconclusive findings in the literature on key predictors of export behaviour, which may be explained by methodological limitations. In this chapter, using a novel fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis for its ability to capture complex causality, the authors study the impact of managerial attributes and collaborative behaviours on SMEs’ export propensity. The analysis is based on a sample of 80 SMEs operating in the emerging country context of Turkey. Participants were selected using a non-probability sampling approach. For export propensity, it is found that no single driver is sufficient to facilitate SMEs’ export entry. Rather, a combination of managerial attributes including export knowledge, international orientation, entrepreneurial orientation and export perception is more likely to lead to export entry. Alternatively, the lack of some of these attributes could be offset by the presence of collaborative activities. Specifically, the shortage of export knowledge, international orientation and entrepreneurial orientation at any rate could be mitigated by collaborative activities. These findings hold important implications for SMEs and export promotion organisations in similar emerging contexts.

The study this chapter reports focuses on how network theory contributes to the understanding of the internationalization process of SMEs and measures the effect of network capability on performance in international trade and has three research objectives.

The first objective of the study relates to providing new insights into the international market development activities through the application of a network perspective. The chapter reviews the international business literature to ascertain the development of thought, the research gaps, and the shortcomings. This review shows that the network perspective is a useful and popular theoretical domain that researchers can use to understand international activities, particularly of small, high technology, resource-constrained firms.

The second research objective is to gain a deeper understanding of network capability. This chapter presents a model for the impact of network capability on international performance by building on the emerging literature on the dynamic capabilities view of the firm. The model conceptualizes network capability in terms of network characteristics, network operation, and network resources. Network characteristics comprise strong and weak ties (operationalized as foreign-market entry modes), relational capability, and the level of trust between partners. Network operation focuses on network initiation, network coordination, and network learning capabilities. Network resources comprise network human-capital resources, synergy-sensitive resources (resource combinations within the network), and information sharing within the network.

The third research objective is to determine the impact of networking capability on the international performance of SMEs. The study analyzes 11 hypotheses through structural equations modeling using LISREL. The hypotheses relate to strong and weak ties, the relative strength of strong ties over weak ties, and each of the eight remaining constructs of networking capability in the study. The research conducts a cross-sectional study by using a sample of SMEs drawn from the telecommunications industry in Ireland.

The study supports the hypothesis that strong ties are more influential on international performance than weak ties. Similarly, network coordination and human-capital resources have a positive and significant association with international performance. Strong ties, weak ties, trust, network initiation, synergy-sensitive resources, relational capability, network learning, and information sharing do not have a significant association with international performance. The results of this study are strong (R2=0.63 for performance as the outcome) and provide a number of interesting insights into the relations between collaboration or networking capability and performance.

This study provides managers and policy makers with an improved understanding of the contingent effects of networks to highlight situations where networks might have limited, zero, or even negative effects on business outcomes. The study cautions against the tendency to interpret networks as universally beneficial to business development and performance outcomes.

A common weakness of most growth models is the assumption that growth is a desired objective for entrepreneurs (see, e.g. Bird, 1989). However, not all entrepreneurial firms seek growth as their primary objective (Covin, Slevin, & Covin, 1990; Porter, 1996), and further there is no reason to expect that all entrepreneurs want their businesses to grow in similar ways (Liao & Welsch, 2003). Thus, in many cases researchers have separated growth orientation from actual growth. In previous studies growth orientation has been defined as precondition to growth (see, e.g. Autio et al., 2000). Growth orientation is an attitudinal concept based on subjective evaluation (Nummela, Puumalainen, & Saarenketo, 2005) and is considered to be particularly important for international growth (Yli-Renko et al., 2002). IGO is thought to be a useful construct for differentiating companies according to their motivation to seek growth in international markets, and also for identifying the factors behind the chosen growth strategies (Nummela et al., 2005).

Research related to firm export performance dates back to the early 1960s, ever since many studies have been conducted with mixed results. The three main goals of the present study were to analyze (1) the impact of the selected firm, management, and the export strategy-related variables on the export performance; (2) the possible variation in the results depending on the measure of export performance; and (3) the similarities and differences in the results depending on the type of SME – traditional exporters vs. born international companies. Based on a literature review, 14 hypotheses were developed to be tested. Consequently, the empirical part of the study is based on a survey conducted among Finnish SMEs in early 2002. The export performance was analyzed using six different types of performance measures. None of the 14 hypotheses were fully supported by all employed measures of performance. However, the export performance was positively impacted by firm size, product/service quality, international orientation, and market diversification along five measures. Additionally, the study indicated some similarities, but also some differences depending on the measure of export performance, type of the exporting SME, and the operationalizations used for the born international companies. Based on the results, management implications and proposals for future research are presented.

Exports are both an important component of overall economic performance and an indicator of broader trends in economic growth for the early American economy. In this article we describe a new set of estimates of the volume of overseas exports originating in the colonies and states of the Middle Atlantic region from 1720 to 1800. Measured in constant prices, export volumes grew rapidly in this period, but were unable to outpace the rapid growth of population and the labor force. Despite significant short-run fluctuations, per capita export values displayed no trend. At the same time, regional terms of trade improved considerably, increasing the foreign exchange earnings produced for any real export quantity.

Purpose – This paper is intended to test for the model of commodities export performance (EP) in Aceh Province, Indonesia.

Design/Methodology/Approach – This research will focus on approach model of firms competency variable, customer relation, foreign environmental factor, and moderating variable of export competitive strategy which aims to improve firm performance in the export context.

Findings – The research framework models will give a new perspective to export activities conducted by exporting commodities in an emergent nation such as Indonesia and more specifically in Aceh.

Originality/Value – The improvement of EP.

Although interfunctional coordination plays a key role in the performance of the firm, the literature has largely ignored it compared to the other two market orientation components: customer orientation and competitor orientation. The question of whether our current knowledge can be generalized to firms from the developing world has also been neglected since most studies have been conducted in developed countries. To address these issues, a model was developed here to empirically examine the relationship between interfunctional coordination and export performance as well as to identify the key determinants of both constructs. A sample of 201 senior managers of export firms in Brazil was used to test the hypotheses. The results suggest that the legal regulations and technical requirements, competitive intensity, and technological orientation of the product are positively related to interfunctional coordination. Contrary to expectations, the results also confirm that the difference in the stage of the product life cycle is negatively related to interfunctional coordination. In turn, interfunctional coordination has a positive effect on firms' export performance.

Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to study how dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation (competitive aggressiveness, proactiveness and risk taking) affect international performance in competitive and technology-intensive international environments.

Methodology/approach – To address the research questions, structural equation modelling is applied to Finnish survey data (N=271).

Findings – Our findings reveal that the dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation are differentially related to international performance, and that their effect is contingent on moderating variables.

Research limitations – One limitation is the use of cross-sectional data as it limits the possibility of drawing strong conclusions from the development of the relationships between the different constructs. Also the fact that the study was conducted in a single-country setting is a limitation.

Practical implications – Results indicate that entrepreneurial behaviour is of importance for international business managers. However, results imply that prior to striving for proactive behaviour, competitive aggressiveness and venturesome risk taking managers should study their international market environments carefully and truly understand the nature of these turbulent markets, as in many occasions strong emphasis on entrepreneurial behaviour did not contribute positively to the international performance indicators, such as increasing sales and profits.

Originality/value of the chapter – Present study extends the works of Zahra and Garvis (2000), Lumpkin and Dess (2001) and Wiklund and Shepherd (2005), for example, by (a) applying entrepreneurial orientation on international business, (b) examining the effects of different dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation on a firm's international performance and (c) extending the research of the role of moderating effects on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance.