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Despite the proliferation of free trade agreements (FTAs) internationally, the limited research available on the subject indicates that few SMEs consider the existence of these agreements as a reason to engage in international markets or expand their existing international engagement. The purpose of this paper is to identify and augment SME international marketing models building on Merrilees and Tiessen's (1999) work; and to explain how these marketing models condition the reaction of small firm exporters to FTAs.

This study comprised in-depth interviews with 51 SME exporters in New Zealand. Participants were selected purposefully and were interviewed in a face-to-face, semi-structured format.

Five international marketing strategies were identified drawing on prior models of international marketing: sales-driven, relationship-driven, international boutique, arbitrager and market seeder. These models are characterised by different relationships to markets and to buyers served, and by the extent of customisation in the export offering. By using these models the authors analyse why SMEs have yet to significantly capitalise on the opportunities provided by New Zealand's recent wave of trade agreements.

This study acknowledges the diversity of international marketing strategies between seemingly similar firms by recognising that approaches generally viewed as unlikely to bring success in international markets can work when applied in a particular way and in a particular context. As such the results may offer a useful starting point for the customisation of policy advice on exporting in terms of the context in which SMEs operate.

As well as advancing theoretical perspectives on SME international marketing strategies, the findings are presented as a contribution to the as yet limited evaluation of how SMEs in New Zealand have responded to the emerging opportunities created by FTAs. The interest in filling this gap is part of a growing recognition that factors related to the firm's trading environment have been largely neglected in policy considerations.

This paper aims to explore and analyze how a focal firm, coming from emerging economies, of the multinational technology standard alliance ecosystem engages different actors of the alliance in value co-creation practice, contributing to product collaborative innovation and reciprocal standards cooperation.

Based on in-depth interviews, primary company, and secondary documents, this paper conducts an exploratory single case study of TechAlpha to investigate the practice of value co-creation in the multinational technology standard alliance (MTSA).

Based on the extended resource-based view (ERBV), this paper finds that in the MTSA ecosystem, actor engagement sets the anchor for the focal firm in the MTSA to dominate the resource interaction, achieving a greater interaction through goal co-discussion, standard co-construction and achievement co-sharing. Resource interaction is composed of standard resource identification, standard resource sharing, and standard resource alignment, putting a high value on the practice of value co-creation. Value co-creation dominated by the focal firm of the MTSA is embodied in the synergy of actor engagement and resource interaction.

This paper contributes to the relevant literature by illustrating how the focal firm coming from emerging economies of the MTSA enables value co-creation through adjusting the situation of actor engagement and exerting its standards resource interaction. This paper also advances the process of acquisition, integration, and reconstruction of heterogeneous resources throughout the MTSA by offering a new supplementary perspective and new evidence from a Chinese firm.

In later years a number of articles have been published on the issue of exporter–importer relations either from the exporter viewpoint (Bello & Gilliland, 1997; Mortanges & Vossen, 2000; Solberg & Nes, 2002; Bello, Christitan & Li, 2003; Zhang, Cavusgil & Roath, 2003) or from the importer perspective (Lye, 1998; Skarmeas & Katsikeas, 2001; Skarmeas, katsikeas, & Schlegelmilch. 2002). The main focus has been on how to develop relations with and control of the foreign partner. Taking a principal-agent view of the channel management issues, Bello and Gilliland (1997) suggest a model where they test how unilateral (through process control or outcome control) and bilateral governance structures (flexibility) are being influenced by a number of antecedents, and how they in their turn impact on exporter performance. Process control may be described as the principal's influence on the way in which distributors/subsidiaries carry out the marketing activities (advertising, sales calls, etc), whereas with outcome control the firm is content with controlling the result of these activities (profit, sales volume, market share, etc). They found that outcome control and flexibility of the trading partners correlate positively with performance, whereas no significant relationships were established between process control and performance. Other models have later been introduced, where the effects of relational controls or relational norms have been explored (Bello et al. 2003; Zhang et al. 2003).

The Internet has been heralded as having the potential to completely revolutionise the way organisations conduct their business and cited as the most rapidly adopted medium of our time. This study investigates Internet usage in the context of Hawke's Bay wineries within New Zealand. Although web potential has been well documented, the reality lags somewhat behind. A survey of thirty‐six Hawke's Bay winery websites was conducted applying a content analysis method previously used within the international wine sector. The results show positive adoption of current web technology. However, the analysis shows potential still remains for better utilisation by wineries of the web. There appears to be significant room to add value to websites and emphasise a range of brand and relationship building activities. Such a policy could confer competitive advantage and add another option for global exposure for wineries committed to incorporating a fully functioning web dimension into their long‐term marketing strategy. International markets will increase in importance as New Zealand wine production continues to rise steeply.

Smuggling represents a significant proportion of world trade. However, its nature and rationale are not sufficiently understood in comparison with those of counterfeiting, parallel importing and contraband trade. The willing or unwilling involvement of MNCs in smuggling is also poorly perceived. These issues are reviewed here as well as actions aimed at reducing smuggling's growth.

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.

In the context of a retailer with an international supply network, this paper develops theories of (a) how both stability and strong ties in an international supply network combine to yield a resource base that enables the development of flexible relationships with suppliers, (b) how stability and relationship flexibility in the international supply network of a retail reseller may in turn be driven both by the international diversity and by the density of the retailer’s supply network in a product category, and (c) how both the international diversity and the density of a retailer’s supply network may directly affect the likelihood of a retailer developing flexible relationships with its supplier. In doing so, this paper develops and presents six hypotheses and discusses some approaches to measurement of the underlying constructs and testing the hypothesized effects.

Mr J. C. Rivelt, B.Sc.(Eng.) M.I.E.E., has been appointed Manager of the Aircraft Equipment Division of the English Electric Co. Ltd. He will continue in his present position of Manager of the Luton Division of D. Napier and Son Ltd.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an understanding of the country-of-origin (COO) effect on overseas distributors’ behaviour in international marketing channels. Integrating the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and the concepts of country-induced biases, the current study develops an empirically testable model that explains and predicts overseas distributors’ behaviour in international marketing channels.

Hypotheses were tested using primary data stemmed from a survey of channel relationships between exporters and their overseas distributors. Data were collected from 103 distributors in the USA.

Empirical evidence shows that attitude towards foreign brands, social valuation of the origin of brands, and perceived behavioural control affect overseas distributors’ intention to place foreign brands. In addition, country-induced bias factors – buyer animosity and country-related affect to the origin of manufacture – are considered to be the antecedents of attitude towards foreign brands.

Because this study adopted a cross-sectional design, the limitations of this method can be applied to the study. In addition, because of the research context, the results of the present research may lack generalizability. This manuscript, however, integrated the TPB and the concepts of country-induced biases and addressed the calls for research on the COO effects on overseas distributors’ decision in international marketing channels.

The manuscript suggests that to build positive attitudes towards foreign brands, a firm should focus on promotions through various media in international markets to lower animosity and the perceived risk to the origin of manufacture. In addition, firms with foreign brands need to identify and target a segment that feels comfortable about spending their resources on those brands. Finally, international marketers should focus on creating positive attitudes towards foreign brand goods and proper pricing strategies.

This manuscript fills the knowledge gap of the COO effect on organizational buyer behaviour in international marketing channels.

This paper aims at investigating and uncovering the potential effect of exporters' market orientation upon international business relationship with particular emphases on cooperation, dependence, and relationship distance.

This is a quantitative study using a mail survey among Thai exporting firms in various industries. The final sample size was comprised of 388 strategic business units (SBU's) from 279 Thai export firms in over eight industries. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling by means of AMOS 4.01.

Exporters' market orientation enhances the cooperation between the exporters and their major overseas distributor while minimizing their dependence and relationship distance. In addition, export performance is higher with greater exporter cooperation and lower relationship distance. Interestingly, the influence of exporter dependence on export performance varied among industry groups.

This study extends the domain of market orientation in international contexts by illustrating and empirically testing how exporters' market orientation serve as an antecedent to the development of business‐to‐business relationships, which ultimately enhances export performance. To business practitioners, this research pinpoints a particular challenge faced by exporters in managing their relationships with their overseas distributors in order to achieve better performance. Our findings show that market orientation plays a crucial role in developing and nurturing cooperative efforts with overseas distributors. As a result, exporters and their overseas distributors are recommended not only to form cooperative norms that are critical to joint marketing decisions and actions, but also aim to establish and maintain mutual dependence for their superior performance enhancement.

This study contributes to marketing and international business literature and provides insights to exporters by investigating the relationships among market orientation, behavioral aspects of business relationships and export performance. It also provides some evidence that market orientation practices are beneficial in enhancing cross‐cultural relationships, which have been given limited attention in previous literature.