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Various barriers discourage small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from entering or expanding their export activities in the international markets, especially SMEs in emerging markets. The purpose of this study is to look at capacity building to accelerate SMEs’ export performance.

This study draws on contingency theory and takes a resource-based and market-based view to provide a holistic understanding of the issue. This study uses primary data collected via extensive surveys from active SMEs in three main industrial regions in Vietnam to undertake confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling for quantitative analysis.

The results confirm and show the significant effects of various determinants on firms’ export performance. These research findings have scientific contribution and significant implications by understanding the effective internal and external export drivers and mediators in an emerging market and enhancing SMEs’ export performance.

This study helps SMEs to improve their export performance by systemizing their decision-making in export activities, improving main export drivers highlighted in this study and developing required training programs for their teams. The outcomes also helps policymakers and regulators to improve the current SME ecosystem in Vietnam through training programs, improving policies, facilitating trades, providing more government assistance etc. The results of this study can be extended to other emerging markets with a similar economic structure and legal system.

Given the need for more work on export performance, this paper develops and tests a holistic conceptual framework that accounts for all aspects of export drivers, and provides a more comprehensive model for examining SMEs’ export drivers. This theoretical framework also incorporates three potential mediators (i.e. innovation strategy, export marketing strategy and business strategy) to investigate the effect of internal and external factors on export performance, highlighting the importance of the mediating effects on SMEs in achieving growth and competing in the international arena.

This study aims to analyze the complexities of the Brazilian soybean supply chain (SSC) and develop strategic interventions to improve the origin system’s performance.

This study used stakeholder interviews to identify the SSC bottlenecks and determine and assess drivers of competitiveness. A methodological framework based on the systems thinking approach for developing long-term structural changes was used. The problem was structured using behavior over time graph and causal loop modeling to propose three investment strategies to solve the logistics problem in SSC.

This study highlights the gaps in coordination between stakeholders and the public sector regarding the public policy for infrastructure investment. Three strategic interventions were developed to address the agro-industrial logistical problem, namely, investment in storage, multimodal transport systems and improvements in existing transport infrastructure. To overcome transport and storage logistics limitations, the authors suggest different forms of partnerships, including public-private partnerships.

This research is limited to evaluating an agricultural commodity (soybean) and does not include its by-products. The sample of stakeholders was limited and the boundary of analysis was Brazil. Nevertheless, the study showed how strategic interventions could be developed following a holistic analysis.

The proposed integrated approach illustrates the development of three strategic initiatives. It can be implemented by stakeholders, including the public sector, which is the basis for providing assertive long-term investments in Brazilian logistics.

The SSC analysis could promote the implementation of systemically determined interventions and strategies. It could significantly improve the performance of agricultural systems and help the formulation of public policies aimed at rural development.

The use of system dynamics to identify intervention points is an essential contribution to mitigating the SSC’s hindrances. Moreover, the combining methodologies resulted in comprehensive intervention strategies.

Although cross-border e-commerce has become increasingly popular among small and medium-sized enterprises as a foreign market entry mode, research on the determinants of its success is scarce. Drawing on the resource-based view, this study aims to examine the relationship between a firm’s information technology, international marketing and export operations capabilities and its cross-border e-commerce strategic and financial performance.

Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze data from a sample of Italian exporters in the food and beverage industry.

The results highlight the mixed effects of information technology, international marketing and export operations capabilities on both e-commerce strategic and financial performance. Moreover, the use of third-party e-commerce platforms reduces the effect of exporters’ information technology capabilities on their e-commerce financial performance.

The majority of exporters in this study had implemented cross-border e-commerce only recently; hence, longitudinal data on the success factors of e-commerce are not available.

While cross-border e-commerce may work as an accelerator of the overall export performance, export managers are urged to approach it strategically with a clear medium-term view to develop the required capabilities.

This study was one of the first to examine the drivers of small and medium-sized exporters’ cross-border e-commerce performance. Moreover, unlike most previous analyzes, it focused on e-commerce as a foreign market entry mode rather than a supplement to offline exporting activities.

This paper aims to explore whether the key drivers identified in digitalization policies are being prioritized by practitioners in health and social care and to what degree the goals of the policies are being enacted.

The investigation comprised two stages. First, the key drivers of digitalization in the national policies were identified. Second, a survey was disseminated to practitioners within health and social care, asking them to indicate their stance on each key driver (using Likert scales).

The findings of this paper are twofold. First, they demonstrate that practitioners more readily enact the key drivers centered around their everyday operations, such as improving services and care and increasing efficiency. Second, it shows that key drivers of a more rhetorical nature, such as “becoming the best,” do not yield benefits for practitioners.

This paper shows that for policies to have an effect in practice and to contribute to change, they should be rooted in key drivers centered around practitioners’ everyday operations, promoting specificity over abstraction.

While previous studies have involved policy analysis, few studies investigate the enactment of policies, how they are implemented and whether they contribute to changes in practice.

This paper aims to highlight a model of industry drivers (industries’ environmental reputation and competitive intensity) that affect the sustainability marketing strategy segmentation, targeting and positioning based on customers’ environmental concern and explore the circumstances under which such a strategy affects performance.

The authors examined 64 Iranian export companies, which adopted sustainability marketing strategies across seven different industries. Achieved data are analyzed using a structural equation model methodology.

The results indicate that industries’ environmental reputation is positively related to the sustainability marketing strategies based on customers’ environmental concern and leads to superior financial and market performance. They also posit that competitive intensity has no significant effect on sustainability marketing strategies.

This study specifically examines the impact of industry drivers on sustainability marketing strategy and performance. Logically, there might be other factors affecting the sustainability or other value dimensions that are not addressed in this study.

This paper provides some understanding of how organizations strength their sustainability marketing strategy, and they have to consider what factors to adopt such strategy. This paper also facilitates a better understanding of the customers’ needs and concern as a factor influencing sustainability marketing strategy adoption and implementation. Identifying the customer segmentation and market targeting based on the industry’s environmental can lead to the business will normally tailor the marketing mix (4Ps) with the needs and expectations of the target in mind.

This paper strengthens the effect of environmental concern of customer to understand what influences the success of the sustainability marketing adoption and implementation by investigating the most influential factors such as industries’ environmental reputation and competitive intensity.

Este artículo pretende poner de manifiesto un modelo de impulsores de la industria (reputación ambiental e intensidad competitiva de las industrias) que afecta a la segmentación, orientación y posicionamiento de la estrategia de marketing de sostenibilidad basada en la preocupación ambiental de los clientes y explora las circunstancias en las que dicha estrategia afecta al rendimiento.

Se han examinado 64 empresas exportadoras iraníes que adoptaron estrategias de marketing sostenible en siete industrias diferentes. Los datos obtenidos se analizan utilizando SEM.

Los resultados indican que la reputación ambiental de las industrias se relaciona positivamente con las estrategias de marketing sostenibles basadas en la preocupación ambiental de los clientes y conlleva un rendimiento financiero y de mercado superior. También se afirma que la intensidad competitiva no tiene un efecto significativo en las estrategias de marketing sostenible.

Este estudio examina específicamente el impacto de los impulsores de la industria en la estrategia y el rendimiento de marketing sostenible. Lógicamente, podría haber otros factores que afecten a la sostenibilidad u otras dimensiones de valor que no se abordan en este estudio.

Se analiza cómo las organizaciones fortalecen su estrategia de marketing sostenible y tienen que considerar qué factores adoptar en dicha estrategia. Este artículo facilita también una mejor comprensión de las necesidades y preocupaciones de los clientes como un factor que influye en la adopción e implementación de la estrategia de marketing sostenible. La identificación de la segmentación de clientes y el mercado basado en el entorno ambiental de la industria puede llevar a que el negocio adapte su marketing mix (4Ps) teniendo en cuenta las necesidades y expectativas del público objetivo.

Esta investigación refuerza el efecto de la preocupación ambiental del cliente para comprender qué influye en el éxito de la adopción e implementación del marketing sostenible al investigar los factores más influyentes, como la reputación ambiental y la intensidad competitiva de las industrias.

Sostenibilidad, Estrategia de marketing, Industria, Impacto medioambiental, Clientes, Preocupación ambiental, Intensidad de la competencia, Exportación, Rendimiento financiero, Rendimiento de mercado.

Estudio de caso

This paper aims to examine the relationship between innovation capabilities (INVC) and export performance (EXPERF) of manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Moreover, the paper aims to investigate the moderating effect of risk-taking propensity (RSTP) in the relationship between INVC and the SMEs’ EXPERF.

A cross-sectional survey design was used and data were collected through structured questionnaires from 250 manufacturing exporting SMEs in Tanzania. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the measurement model. The hypotheses were empirically tested using PROCESS macro test.

The findings affirm that INVC is a significant predictor of EXPERF. Additionally, RSTP was found to be a significant moderator of the relationship between INVC and EXPERF.

Although the study was able to accomplish its overall objective, it is limited in terms of the context under which the study was conducted. This study covered only manufacturing SMEs in a single country, Tanzania. Hence, the findings should be interpreted with caution since each country has specific institutional environments that support innovation.

The findings of this study expand the application of the resource-based view (RBV) theory in exporting context. The study revealed how INVC as an intangible resource can lead to successful performance. Hence, the findings of this study broaden the applicability of RBV theory. Also, this study contributes to the debate about the innovation-export performance relationship by revealing a moderating role of RSTP in the relationship between INVC and EXPERF.

This article investigates the relationship between family ownership and export performance in the context of SMEs while also considering the moderating role of the financial dimension and, in particular, financial constraints and financial flexibility.

We select a sample of 1,132 Italian SMEs to examine through an econometric analysis the role and impact of family ownership and the financial moderating variables being used on their export performance.

The results indicate that there is a U-shaped relationship between family ownership and export performance: the highest levels of export performance correspond to the lowest and highest family ownership levels, whereas when a mixture of family and nonfamily ownership exists, the performance suffers because of “conflicting voices” dominating strategic visions and approaches, harming the firm's export commitment. Moreover, the findings show that lower financial constraints and/or stronger financial flexibility improve the relationship between family ownership and export performance.

Our findings show that the ownership structure is important for export performance; in particular, firms should avoid a mixture between family and nonfamily ownership because it is detrimental to export performance. Moreover, Italian SMEs need to develop sources of financing other than the banking channel, and policy makers should favour this process to overcome financial constraint problems and improve financial flexibility. Limitations concern the use of other econometric approaches and measurement variables to further investigate the connection between family ownership and export performance.

The present study enhances the comprehension of the complex relationship between family ownership and export performance by documenting the relevance of the level of family ownership and considering the moderating role of financial constraints and flexibility.

This study aims to explain the effect of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) dimensions on firms’ export performance. The study has considered three dimensions of EO: innovativeness, proactiveness and risk-taking. Export performance has been measured through multifaceted determinants: financial, strategic and satisfaction levels of exporting firms.

To explain the association between such determinants, qualitative face-to-face, in-depth interviews were conducted with the respondents from the apparel manufacturing companies of Bangladesh. The study has also applied a content analysis technique to explore and triangulate the descriptions of EO dimensions on performance.

The research results reveal that EO has a meaningful explanation of export performance from the lived experience of the respondents. The study has also found frequent explanations and indicators about the association of innovativeness and proactiveness on export performance, but the risk-taking dimension has revealed no effects.

The research has different implications on theoretical, managerial and policy-making aspects of EO and export performance. Nevertheless, the findings are based on the opinions of a small sample of entrepreneurs and high-level managers. Thus, it is important to test the generalizability of these findings in future research using a larger sample.

This study indicated product, process and market creation innovativeness. Risks related to product innovation, new market entry and politics are considered for risk-taking measures, while proactive innovation, technology and new market searching are used for measuring proactiveness. Additionally, multifaceted performance determinants have been applied to evaluate export performance. Hence, this study is a unique qualitative analysis with important theoretical, practical and methodological implications.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships between technology orientations and export performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

A quantitative research design was adopted for this study. The paper formulates hypotheses from the literature review. These hypotheses are tested using structural equation modeling with data collected from 231 SMEs in Uganda. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 23 and AMOS.

The findings of this study showed technology orientation has a positive and significant relationship with the performance of Ugandan SMEs and that supply chain agility moderates technology orientation and export performance.

The study discusses the findings, advances limitations and managerial implications. It also suggests future research avenues. It proposes some recommendations to help Ugandan SMEs to form flexible supply chains, use the latest technology and create strong relationship ties with their partners in the supply chain.

The study suggests that managers of Ugandan SMEs should use the latest technology in production, marketing, logistics and supply chain management which will enable them to respond quickly to customer tastes and preferences leading to higher levels of export performance.

This study contributes to the literature on strategic management showing the reliability of scales used and the confirmatory of the factor structure. This study shows that in strategic management technology, orientation is critical in increasing export performance. This study has extended the resource-based view (RBV) and dynamic capabilities theories.

This study aims to investigate current deglobalization against globalization and to hypothesize reasons and drivers of deglobalization. In addition, the study suggests an empirical model to test whether deglobalization exists in the world economy. The consequences of deglobalization are discussed.

Various measures for deglobalization are introduced for monitoring the deglobalization of a country, and statistical measures are reported. The research framework for deglobalization and empirical models are suggested. The relationship between deglobalization and globalization is being modeled using three KOF globalization indexes: economic, political and societal. This study used panel data from 1970 to 2017 for developed and developing countries to determine the degree of deglobalization.

Deglobalization has been found empirically since the global financial crisis. Deglobalization is estimated by the decreasing trend of import share in a country's gross domestic product and is influenced by manufacturing imports, country's income divide and political globalization. Both economic and societal globalizations have negative influence on deglobalization. Deglobalization is more apparent in developed countries than in developing countries, and the deglobalization trend will continue in diverse formats.

This study limits the use of few variables to test the antecedents of deglobalization. Another study can be done to extend preceding variables and estimate the consequences of deglobalization, which may segregate the globalization effect. The international business executive should understand the complexity of deglobalization and consider business benefits and risks to be encountered.

This study used panel data from 1970 to 2017 for developed and developing countries to determine the degree of deglobalization.