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Key account management plays a pivotal role for managers and practitioners in maintaining successful customer–supplier relationships. Yet, little is known conceptually and empirically as to how suppliers can develop international key account management capabilities in international customer–supplier relationships. Drawing from resource-based view and dynamic capability literature, we develop and test a model of the impact of IT capabilities on international key account management capabilities and firm performance. An explorative case study of Taiwanese electronics suppliers reveals that IT capabilities are critical to develop supplier international key account management capabilities. Moreover, IT capabilities can enhance supplier performance through improving international KAM capabilities.

Succeeding in export markets remains a challenging task for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operating in developing countries. Empirical studies from these regions on SMEs’ internationalisation remain scarce bringing contrasting evidence to those emerging from developed countries. To increase understanding on these issues, the present study adopts a novel fuzzy-set comparative analysis technique to investigate the combination(s) of different resource factors driving Algerian SMEs’ export performance. Using a sample of 103 exporters, the study identifies two distinct resource configurations likely to boost SMEs export performance. The present study holds important implications for the internationalisation literature and the export promotion organisations in developing countries.

Purpose – Resource-based literature argues that firms’ export performances are influenced by a proper combination of their own resources and capabilities, allowing for sustainable competitive advantages. Because export activities are usually based on relationships between firms and foreign intermediaries, the adequate management of inter-organisational activities should also be analysed as a key determinant of export performance.

Originality – Our research adds to the existing literature by examining the role that management control systems (MCS) play in exploiting firms’ exporting capabilities and resources to optimise export performance.

Methodology – Utilising empirical data from Spanish exporters, an initial analysis of export efficiency was performed based on DEA and segmentation techniques. From efficiency scores, we tested causal relationships between MCS design and use and the optimisation of resources and capabilities when performing export activities.

Findings and practical implications – The main conclusions are that any type of control system was found to have a positive influence in export performance, but only social control establishes a difference in terms of efficiency. The results show that strong social controls increase firms’ efficiencies when managing export channels, allowing firms to achieve outputs superior to competitors with similar resources and capabilities. In addition, an efficiency ‘lifecycle’ was identified for relationships between exporters and intermediaries. A pro-cyclical effect was found among MCS design, use, and export efficiency; intense MCS were established in the first stages of a relationship but were relaxed after a certain level of efficiency was achieved, leading to a reduction of efficiency in the long term that compromised the continuity of relationships.

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of technological resources and external research partners on the export performance of Italian high-tech small and medium firms (SMEs).

Methodology/approach – Drawing on the resource-based view as theoretical framework and deriving hypotheses from the export management literature, we used a sample of Italian manufacturing firms to run a two-step analysis. First, a Levene's test is conducted to assess whether SMEs operating in the high-tech sectors differ from those operating in other manufacturing sectors. Second, employing ordinary least squares (OLS) regression we analysed which technological resources and external research partners best discriminate the export performance of high-tech SMEs.

Findings – Our empirical results revealed that: (1) the use of output rather than input measures of innovation better captures the contribution of technological resources on export performance of firms in our sample; (2) product innovations positively and significantly affect the export performance of technology intensive SMEs; (3) among external research partners, universities provide positive spillover effects on their export performance.

Originality/value – This study provides the heterogenic perspective of the high-tech sectors when attempting to explain the influence of technological resources and external research partners on the export performance of SMEs. Second, the study expands the traditional measures used in the literature for firms’ technological resources and it comprehensively analyses innovative inputs and innovative outputs while exploring whether innovative efforts have had a measurable effect on the export performance of high-tech SMEs.

Over the last decade, market entry activities have continued to play a critical role in global economic development. In the transitional economies in China, Russia, and the Eastern European countries, newly emerged private enterprises, both large and small, have operated beyond national borders to build their wealth and social identities. In the developed economies in North America, Europe and the Pacific Rim, more and more companies have relied on joint ventures and direct investment abroad to relieve pressure from mature domestic markets. In the developing economies in Asia, Latin America, and Africa, governments have continued to embrace direct and indirect exports as a means to emerge from deprivation and poverty and participate in market globalization.

Extant research posits that mergers and acquisition (M&As) do not create value. Still many firms adopt expansion strategies such as alliances, joint ventures (JVs), and M&As to grow and enhance their performance. Through performing a meta-analysis on 204 papers that assess the relationship between the three most prevalent expansion strategies formed by firms, alliances, JVs, and M&As and their different substantive and symbolic performance effects, this study contributes in two ways. First, it becomes clear that alliances and M&As enhance a firm’s substantive performance, while no positive performance effect is observed for JVs. In turn, all three expansion strategies boost a firm’s symbolic performance in terms of its legitimacy and status. Second, a distinction between their effects on a firm’s substantive performance in terms of their market-based and accounting-based performance shows that alliances and M&As both positively contribute to a firm’s accounting-based performance, while only the former spurs a firm’s market-based returns. This indicates that M&As have more long-term accounting-based performance effects compared to alliances and JVs, which suggests that in the long-term firms do best by expanding through M&As.

During the 1990s, new theories emerged in the field of strategy. In particular, the resource-based and competence-based views of the firm developed in reaction to Porter and the entire current derived from the industrial economy. However, these approaches have their own limitations: they are difficult to put into practice and are partially similar to the industrial approach.

This article has two aims: (a) to make a clearer distinction between the classical approach on the one hand, and the resource- and competence-based approach on the other hand; and (b) to overcome the opposition between these two models in order to grasp their complementarities. First of all, a critical analysis of the literature is presented, in order to understand how these two approaches fit into thinking. This theoretical framework is then illustrated by a case study of Air Liquide, which, in some of its activities, adopted a competence-based strategy and structure. The case study clearly identifies the points of divergence such as the complementarities between the two approaches, thereby showing how one can overcome their oppositions as well as their respective limitations.

Motivated by empirical features that characterize cryptocurrency volatility data, the authors develop a forecasting strategy that can account for both model uncertainty and heteroskedasticity of unknown form. The theoretical investigation establishes the asymptotic optimality of the proposed heteroskedastic model averaging heterogeneous autoregressive (H-MAHAR) estimator under mild conditions. The authors additionally examine the convergence rate of the estimated weights of the proposed H-MAHAR estimator. This analysis sheds new light on the asymptotic properties of the least squares model averaging estimator under alternative complicated data generating processes (DGPs). To examine the performance of the H-MAHAR estimator, the authors conduct an out-of-sample forecasting application involving 22 different cryptocurrency assets. The results emphasize the importance of accounting for both model uncertainty and heteroskedasticity in practice.

Channel management deals with the establishment of an efficient and effective distribution channel. It implies the stepwise development of channel leadership and channel relations. International channel management and the establishment of cross-border relations between exporting suppliers and their foreign subsidiaries and intermediaries are key in international marketing performance (Madsen, 1989; Cavusgil & Zou, 1994; Solberg & Nes, 2002). Li (2003) proves that an export channel is a very complicated phenomenon and a number of factors, both contextual and historical, affect simultaneously the exchange modes and their operation.