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This study aims to gauge the interactive effect of export intensity and diversity on export performance among exporters in an emerging economy and explore the moderating effect of export intermediaries on the internationalization–export performance relationship.

A survey was undertaken among a convenience sample of small and medium exporters located in Guangdong and Fujian Provinces in South China.

The results show that intensity and diversity interact negatively with export performance, whereas the use of export agents registered a positive effect. Exporters pursuing a strategy of high export intensity will achieve better performance provided that these exports are concentrated in a few countries. Using export agents can help in enhancing the intensity–performance relationship but not that for diversity–performance.

Chinese exporters are advised not to blindly pursue international expansion without regard to their own resources and capabilities. They should try to strike a balance between intensity and diversity and employ external agents when needed.

This research seeks to address the void in the literature on how export intensity and diversity should be balanced to create a positive effect on the performance of exporting ventures in an emerging economy, which is under-addressed in the literature. It is also found that employment of export intermediaries is not always good for export performance.

Global mindset has gained the respectable attention of international business scholars. Global mindset is a multidisciplinary concept comprised of cognitive and cultural dimensions which both influence the international behavior and decision making of the firm. The key purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that global mindset is a crucial cognitive driver of the small and medium‐sized enterprise (SME) internationalization process. In order to do so, it aims to establish the link between global mindset and export performance outcomes.

Using a literature review, the conceptual model was developed. Data were obtained through survey questionnaire and analyzed using partial least squares (PLS) path modeling on the sample of 121 exporting SMEs in Croatia.

Findings of this study suggest that global mindset is positively, directly and significantly related to the export performance. Furthermore, the link between global mindset and export performance was assessed with the moderating effect of international experience (export diversity and export intensity) and findings reveal that there is no significant moderating effect present.

Findings of this study suggest that global mindset is a crucial driver of the SME internationalization process as it exhibited a significant impact on the export performance outcomes. However, the focus of this paper was solely on the strategic (cognitive) dimension of global mindset. Future studies are yet to reveal the relevance of the integrated concept of global mindset.

The value‐added of this study is in the idea that market‐specific experience cannot be easily transferred to other foreign markets by utilizing global mindset. The moderating effect of international experience dimensions on relationship between global mindset and export performance was found to be insignificant. Eventually, findings suggest that global mindset is not related to the SME's international experience.

Despite the much publicised advantages of a website for SME exporters, the level of website sophistication, as well as the factors which inhibit or stimulate exporting SMEs to develop their website beyond a basic level of sophistication, are still unknown. The literature is prone to discuss website establishment and development simultaneously, splitting firms into adopters and non-adopters, yet websites may be established and then neglected, or be continually developed. This paper introduces an instrument for measuring website sophistication within an export marketing context, and proposes and empirically tests a model that depicts factors impacting on perceived advantages of a website and website sophistication levels. The results identify export diversity and environmental pressure as key determinants of perceived advantage of a website which in turn is a good predictor of website sophistication. The firm internal resources, i.e. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) knowledge and time, in conjunction with entrepreneurship orientation also determine an SME exporter's website sophistication level.

This paper aims to examine the different impacts of six variables on firm technological innovation performance in different high-tech industries in China. Through a comparative analysis of data about growth enterprises market board (GEM)-listed companies, this study attempts to get some conclusions, to help firms in different high-tech industries use resources more rationally and to improve technological innovation performance more effectively.

This paper constructs semi-parametric models based on the relevant data of GEM-listed companies during 2010 to 2015 for different high-tech industries. These models can ensure that the influencing factors of firm technological innovation performance are no longer restricted to a particular aspect but can provide a comprehensive comparative analysis of the effects of factors on firm technological innovation performance in different high-tech industries.

The empirical results show that R&D expenditures have a significant positive impact on firm technological innovation performance in most high-tech industries, but not in electronic and communication equipment manufacturing industry; R&D personnel investment and government subsidies have significant positive impacts on firm technological innovation performance in knowledge-oriented industries; technology diversity has a significant positive impact on firm technological innovation performance in technology-oriented industries; the proportion of exports shows an inverted U-shaped relationship with firm technological innovation performance in electronic and communication equipment manufacturing industry, while firm size shows an inverted U-shaped relationship with firm technological innovation performance in general equipment manufacturing industry; and the effect of semi-parametric model fit is superior to the general parameters model.

Drawing on the resource dependence perspective, this paper is the first to consider a comprehensive treatment of differential effects of internal resources (R&D personnel, R&D expenditure), external resources (government subsides) and firm characteristics (firm size, export ratio) on firm technological innovation performance in different high-tech industries in an emerging country, in particular in contrast to previous studies that have focused on a single industry or taken the type of industry as a control variable. In addition, most studies about the determinants of firm innovation performance are based on survey questionnaires, which may introduce large subjective errors. Setting the relationship between variables in advance may also introduce fit error when using a general-parameter model. Semi-parametric regression which is used in this paper is able to prevent this shortcoming effectively. When constructing a regression model, this can be exempted from the formal constraints, thus estimating data more accurately and ensuring superior fit.

Export expansion is usually conceptualized as a progressive organizational commitment ultimately leading to an international enterprise. However, such deterministic export behavior models are irreconcilable with a perspective which sees businesses as developing export structures to fit existing and potential foreign market opportunities. This paper examines how the formal administrative arrangements that firms use for conducting foreign trade are peculiarly fitted to achieve specific export performances. It shows how changes in these arrangements represent primarily organizational strategies for handling export transaction costs more efficiently.

The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of economic complexity on services export diversification. This study has been built on two arguments. The first one draws from Eichengreen and Gupta (2013b) and states that countries that export complex products would have a high penetration in the international goods market and establish a network that could be exploited to expand their range of services export items. Second, by inducing higher inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI), greater economic complexity could contribute to fostering services export diversification.

The empirical analysis uses a panel data set of 109 countries (both developed and developing countries) over the period of 1985–2014, and in particular, non-overlapping sub-periods of five-year average data. Building on the two-step system Generalized Method of Moments, the empirical analysis has provided support for the above-mentioned two theoretical hypotheses.

The findings indicate that greater economic complexity has been associated with a higher level of services export diversification, and the magnitude of this positive effect is higher for high-income countries than for developing countries. Furthermore, the share of FDI inflows (in percentage of gross domestic product) matters for the effect of economic complexity on services export diversification. Specially, economic complexity exerts a higher positive effect on services export diversification, as the share of net FDI inflows in gross domestic product increases.

From a policy perspective, the analysis complements previous works on the effects of economic complexity (e.g. on economic growth, income inequality, poverty, etc.), by showing that economic complexity also matters for fostering the diversification of countries' services export items. Enhancing economic complexity should be at the heart of policymakers' agenda, both at the national and international levels, given its strong positive effect on macroeconomic aggregates, including on services export diversification, the latter being also an important engine for economic growth (Anand et al., 2012; Gnangnon, 2021a; Mishra et al., 2011; Stojkoski et al., 2016).

This study opens an avenue for future research on whether services export diversification influences economic complexity. One avenue for future research could also be to explore the effect of comparative advantage on goods and services (using the Balassa's revealed comparative advantage index) on services export diversification. Future works could also examine how economic complexity affects different categories of services sectors, including traditional services and modern services.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first to address this topic in the literature.

In order to provide a better understanding of export financing in Ghana this exploratory study was undertaken on a sample of non‐traditional exporting firms and selected banks. The focus is on export financing in Ghana. Ghanaian exporters hardly obtain finance for export operations. Interest rates are high, and financial institutions prefer granting short‐term credit to medium or long‐term credit, and investing in government treasury bills and bonds rather than lending to small and medium‐sized firms. Small and medium‐sale exporters hardly meet the requirements of banks to access credit, especially collateral. Default on loans has been high. Exporters need to be more responsible in funds utilization, just as the financial institutions have to be more exporter‐friendly to ensure the success of the national export‐led growth strategy. The recent (2000) Export Development and Investment Act is likely to provide greater access to export finance for exporting firms.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and empirically evaluate a model of the firm‐level determinants of export performance that includes the firm's internationalization modes other than exporting.

The paper uses information gathered on 147 Italian manufacturing small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) and applies a structural equation modeling procedure to evaluate determinants included in the model, which are: the firm's commitment to developing an international marketing strategy, the organizational structure for exports, international modes other than exporting (foreign direct investment, international alliances, global sourcing), and some characteristics of the firm already extensively explored in other studies (size, age, international experience).

The above‐mentioned firm internationalization methods are shown, as a whole, to have a statistically significant, positive and direct influence on export performance. The same can be said of the strategic variable and the organizational variable, whereas the firm characteristics have only an indirect effect on export performance, mediated by the previous three determinants.

The study presents some limitations. In particular, it was limited to manufacturing SMEs in a particular geographical area (North‐East Italy). Replications in other territories are needed to validate the current findings. Moreover, the results of the statistical analysis reveal a moderate support to the research model with regard to some fit indices. These issues could be addressed in future research.

The most important outcome of the study refers to the influence of the internationalization modes other than exporting. Although a great deal of theoretical and empirical literature analyzed the determinants of export performance, this relationship has been largely neglected.

The academic inquiry of operational capabilities (OCs) has claimed focal interest in mainstream strategy research. Recent theoretical advances suggest these capabilities are a fundamental trigger to the identification and exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities. However, the extant literature has been, at best, partial with regard to empirical insights that integrate OCs with entrepreneurial opportunities. Addressing this theoretical lacuna from the standpoint of organisational learning theory, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the interplay between OCs and entrepreneurial opportunities and their overall impact on exporting SME’s growth.

To realise the empirical aims a descriptive research design employing a survey methodology was used. The authors are generated data from a sample of 117 exporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in Croatia. Ordinary least squares regression was employed to test the conceptual model and five derived hypotheses.

The findings demonstrate that market-sensing capabilities are vital in enhancing exporting SME’s opportunity recognition capacity and the rate of international opportunity exploitation that leads to increased firm growth. Also, study findings show that the link between the increased rate of international opportunity exploitation contributes more to the growth when exporting SMEs have highly developed adaptive and innovation capabilities.

This study brings to surface some novel insights about how exporting SMEs can better design their export marketing strategy. The results suggest, OCs occupy key role in the exporting SMEs international venturing efforts by delivering higher growth.

The study contributes to the export marketing strategy field by offering empirical evidence that both capability and opportunity-based views should be assessed simultaneously in explaining exporting SME’s competitiveness. Finally, we offer valuable theoretical and practical implications as well as avenues for further research that should extend our knowledge in the field.

This study explores the impact of owner chief executive officers' (CEO) narcissism on the exporting small to medium-sized enterprises' (SMEs) decision-making on the international market expansion speed after their initial entry. Specifically, the authors use the mechanism of firms' international entrepreneurial orientation (IEO) to examine how owner CEO narcissism may influence SMEs' post-entry speed of internationalization (PSI), both directly and indirectly.

To test the hypotheses, the authors draw on data from a two-wave questionnaire and on archival export data from 291 Chinese exporting SMEs in three municipalities and 17 provinces from 2019 to 2020.

The results support the theoretical predictions that owner CEO narcissism shapes exporting SMEs' decisions on PSI, both directly and indirectly, through the mediation of firm-level IEO.

The study extends emerging research on the role of CEO narcissism in the upper echelons literature into the international marketing (IM) context. It also offers new insights into what drives exporting SMEs' IM decision-making from a psychological microfoundations perspective. Furthermore, the authors theoretically establish and empirically demonstrate the key role of a firm's IEO as a mediator to complement the existing literature's focus on the direct influence of CEO narcissism on firms' internationalization decisions.