Purpose-The purpose of this study is to provide new insights into the link between export market orientation (EMO) and export performance by examining whether managerial ties act to moderate the relationship. Specifically, the study explores whether the extent to which firms have managerial ties (business and political) alters the ways in which the intelligence generation and dissemination components of export market orientation drive export market responsiveness, and in turn, impact on strategic export performance. Design/methodology/approach-Survey data from 100 New Zealand firms exporting to the European Union are used. Findings-The key findings indicate that: export market intelligence generation and dissemination have positive associations with responsiveness; the strength of business ties enhances the relationship between export market intelligence generation and responsiveness; the strength of political ties reduces the relationship between export market intelligence dissemination and responsiveness; and export market responsiveness is positively related to strategic export performance. Originality/value-The study has implications for export marketing managers and researchers with respect to managing EMO levels and the development of managerial ties.

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Drawing on the findings of previous theoretical and empirical studies, this study proposes two frameworks for examining standardization strategies in home–host and intermarket scenarios. For the first time, internal and external factors, extent of standardization, program and process, performance, and home–host/intermarket scenarios are included in one study. In its examination of the proposed research frameworks, the study relies on the experiences of 146 Australian and New Zealand firms operating in the Greater China markets. Factors identified as significantly related to the selection of standardized marketing strategies in the home–host scenario include product type, consumer behavior, marketing infrastructure, political environment, and firm size. Factors suggested by the multivariate regression analysis as significantly related to standardized strategies in the intermarket scenario are product type, international business experience, competitive environment, political and legal aspects, and firm size. For the first time, it is suggested that the standardization of distribution and product strategies has an effect on firm performance in the intermarket scenario.

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Purpose This study aims to present two new contingent frameworks that hypothesize the moderation role of managerial ties (MTs) in the international competitive strategy-export financial and strategic performance framework. The purposes of this study are to explore whether a common standardized or individual customized conceptualization consisting of MTs, international competitive strategy and performance can be used to achieve export financial and strategic performance; to offer contingent factors for the current international competitive strategy-export performance framework; and to generalize the roles of MTs in the developed vis-à-vis developing region. Design/methodology/approach This study uses the experience of 114 exporting firms operating in the European Union region to test its theoretical frameworks. MTs include both business and political ties. Findings Business and political ties have completely different moderation effects on the relation between international differentiation/low-cost strategy and export financial/strategic performance. Business ties have a positive influence on the international differentiation strategy-export strategic performance and international low-cost strategy-export financial performance dyads, but a negative effect in the international low-cost strategy-export strategic performance framework. In contrast, political ties are revealed to have a negative effect on the international differentiation/low-cost strategy-export financial performance framework. Originality/value This research advances extant international competitive strategy-export performance literature by revealing the bright and dark sides of business ties and the down side of political ties in the framework. Performance should be investigated in terms of financial and strategic performance. The moderation effect of business ties is more complex than that reported in the developing region; thus, a cross-regional generalization on these ties’ effects is more difficult to establish. In contrast, the dark side effect of political ties is consistent across developed and developing regions; a cross-regional generalization on these ties is more viable. Collectively, the results show that a standardized process for achieving both export financial and export strategic performances is not feasible, while a customized process for each export performance is needed.