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Reports a survey of 352 Canadian exporters regarding their use of intermediaries in exporting endeavours. Contrasts results with results obtained from other studies involving 394 American exporters. Tests hypotheses regarding the effect of product type, export sales volume and national exporting infrastructure differences on the various export services performed. Prior studies of American intermediaries showed a near inverse relationship between the perceived importance of specific export services and the intermediaries′ level of performance of these services. Canadian exporters, however, feel that their intermediaries are meeting their exporting needs much more effectively.

This paper aims to study the direct and indirect influence of three important intangible resources: export knowledge, negotiation skills and specialisation and trustworthiness on export intermediary performance via the competence to reduce clients’ transaction costs.

The study has been provided with the official database of export intermediary firms by the Department of Export Promotion, Ministry of Commerce, Thailand. The samples of 400 export intermediary firms were identified from the 1,486 population firms. The postal questionnaires were sent to sample firms. Ordinary least square regression analysis has been adopted to test the hypotheses of the study.

The results indicate that valuable resources of export knowledge, negotiation skills and specialisation and trustworthiness significantly and positively affect both export intermediary performance and the competence to reduce clients’ transaction costs. The competence to reduce clients’ transaction costs partially mediates the relationship between resources and export intermediary performance.

A “cost-based” perspective needs to be supplemented in future research with a more behavioural approach.

Export intermediaries must be able to deliver “true added value” to remain a viable organisational form, hence, the intermediaries need ceaselessly to acquire, utilise and develop resources and capabilities in reducing clients’ export-related transaction costs.

From a public policy perspective, gaining more knowledge about the role of export intermediaries can greatly facilitate the export promotion efforts in which most nations’ governments are involved.

This study is a first attempt to study the mediating effect of the competence to reduce transaction costs, which mediates the relationship between resources and performance of export intermediary.

To construct a theoretical framework for understanding the impact of the digitalisation of transactions on the organisation of export intermediation.

This is a conceptual/research paper with a number of illustrative examples – primarily from SMEs.

In the paper, a range of internet‐enabled forms of export intermediation are derived, offsetting the conventional trade‐off between resource commitment and marketing control.

The paper holds a number of relevant insights for export managers seeking to integrate the possibilities of the digital revolution in the organisation of their export marketing activities. These include reshuffling of export marketing tasks among the actors in the marketing channel and new forms of activity specialisation among actors.

Using the theoretical framework of Alderson in combination with transaction cost theorizing. The paper provides a novel theoretical approach for understanding the evolution of marketing institutions in the export marketing field.

This paper is positioned as a manager's guide to the new export opportunity, the export trading company (ETC). ETCs are defined in terms of both the legislative provisions and practical managerial opportunities. A number of different ETC models are presented, both hypothetical and real. Guidelines for creating or joining an ETC are offered, and expectations for short‐term performance are assessed by reference to practical examples of new ETCs. Perspectives for future development of U.S. ETCs are also presented.

Debt‐equity swaps are currently very popular instruments to reduce debt obligations by developing countries. American trading companies can now be formed with equity participation of US banks and can be exempt from routine anti‐trust legislation as a result of recent legislation. This article suggests that debt‐equity swaps can prove to be a powerful tool for enhancing the formation of new American trading companies and, in the case of existing ones, add to their ability to establish a presence in foreign markets.

Although both institutional export assistance and entrepreneurial orientation (EO) contribute separately and positively to export performance, the interplay between them has received little attention. This study examines the role of international EO in deriving performance benefits from governmental and nongovernmental export assistance.

In this longitudinal study, two surveys were administered at two different times: In 2011, 705 Bangladeshi apparel exporters were surveyed, and in 2019, a subsequent survey of 198 firms in multiple industries was conducted. The aim of the surveys was to assess the relationships between governmental and nongovernmental assistance, EO and export performance.

The results of the first survey show that, while nongovernmental assistance influences performance directly and via EO, governmental assistance has only direct effects. Furthermore, the negative influence of government assistance on EO reduces the total effects and renders them nonsignificant. The results of the second survey demonstrate that government EPPs have both direct and indirect positive and significant effects on market performance, indicating a partial mediation, whereas quasi-governmental assistance has positive and significant direct effects as well as negative but nonsignificant indirect effects. Nongovernmental EPPs have both direct and indirect significant effects on international performance, indicating a partial mediation.

The study has important implications for researchers studying export assistance and its impact on firm performance. Instead of adopting a parochial view of government assistance, this study categorizes such assistance into three types – government, quasi-government and nongovernment. Furthermore, this study bridges the export assistance and international entrepreneurship literature by including EO.

Entrepreneurs must emphasize the use of government assistance in order to enhance export performance. However, to promote both entrepreneurship and performance, they must emphasize nongovernment assistance. Exporters should also capitalize on the assistance extended by various quasi-governmental agencies to bolster export performance.

Given the performance advantage of export assistance, this study highlights the contribution of the private sector in promoting export entrepreneurship while shedding light on the pernicious role of (quasi-)governmental assistance in export entrepreneurship.

Prior escalation research (Harrison & Harrell, 1993; Harrell & Harrison, 1994) has supported the prediction that when a project manager has private information and an incentive to shirk (i.e. To protect his/her reputation) he/she will have a greater tendency to continue an unprofitable project than a manager who faces only one or neither of these conditions. Harrison et al. (1999) extended this line of research across cultures to Chinese nationals in Taiwan. The purpose of this paper is to extend the cross-national direction of this line of research by: (1) determining if Mexican nationals who have private information and an incentive to shirk have this same general propensity to continue an unprofitable project when compared to Mexican nationals who experience neither condition, and (2) comparing this general tendency with a sample of U.S. Subjects. The results of this study indicate that the Mexican subjects in the private information, incentive to shirk group also had a tendency to continue unprofitable projects at a rate similar to their U.S. Counterparts. The implications of these results are discussed.

This paper examines the role of export intermediaries in the internationalization of small and medium sized companies in Finland. The empirical study focuses on small Finnish food companies that export to German and Chinese markets.

The research method of this study is qualitative. Data is collected through semi-structured interviews with six respondents presenting exporting companies and export consultants.

The paper provides an empirical contribution to the food internationalization debate. First, the paper discusses the definitions of export intermediaries and their role in export based on the literature. Second, by examining how Finnish food companies experience the role of export intermediaries, the paper contributes to the current discussion on internationalization modes. The empirical results highlight that export companies need transaction-creating services from intermediaries especially when entering physically and culturally distant markets like China.

Limitations of the research generally relate to the use of a small case sample.

The paper holds a number of relevant insights for food companies seeking to enter to German and Chinese markets. Identifying the export services needed by small food companies might help export intermediaries and public policy agencies to better focus their supporting initiatives.

The findings add to the current body of knowledge on the key influence on internationalization modes within the food sector.

The literature on export channels suggests that intermediary resources, namely intermediary competence and availability, are critical for export success. However, little is known about how the beneficial effects of intermediary resources differ amongst integrated, independent and dual channel structures. One difference between these channel structures is the degree of reliance on independent intermediaries. This study aims to investigate (1) the impact of intermediary resources on export venture success, that is, export sales performance and channel maintenance costs and (2) the moderating role of the degree of reliance on independent intermediaries.

Empirical testing was conducted using survey data collected from 204 Japanese industrial exporting ventures. To test the proposed hypotheses, this study estimated a structural equation model with the maximum likelihood estimation procedure.

Evidence shows that two aspects of intermediary resources have different beneficial effects on export venture success. Specifically, intermediary availability leads to export venture success by decreasing channel maintenance costs, whereas intermediary competence is not always beneficial for it. Furthermore, this study finds that reliance on independent intermediaries positively moderates the impacts of intermediary competence and availability.

Previous studies emphasise the importance of intermediary resources and export channel structures. However, the question of whether export channel structures determine the performance benefits of intermediary resources is unanswered. By addressing this question, this study provides helpful insight into how exporting managers can implement channel strategy and access intermediary resources to achieve export success.

How do exporting manufacturers exchange with their foreign intermediaries? This inductive study of 18 British manufacturers in China led to propositions exploring that question. The study suggests that the choice of exchange modes be determined by different factors in combination, including demand uncertainties, intermediaries’ capabilities, market‐specific knowledge, mutual trust, specialization, and competition intensity. It is the contingencies between these factors that determine the exchange modes.