Purpose This study aims to develop and empirically test a model that describes the factors influencing a firm’s export performance; a model that can be adopted by future export researchers, policymakers and practitioners. Specifically, this study aimed to identify the main factors affecting the export performance of manufacturing small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Rwanda and determine the extent of influence of each identified factor on export performance. Design/methodology/approach The research design combines both exploratory research and causal research designs to test the proposed model. Interview guide and survey questionnaires were used to collect the raw data. The collected quantitative data were analysed using the structural equation modelling technique with the Analysis of Moment Structures software. Findings The findings revealed that all the factors identified, namely, organisational, entrepreneurial and industrial, and market factors had a significant positive impact on the export performance of SMEs. Moreover, entrepreneurial factors were proven to be the most influencing factors in export performance followed by market-level factors. In this context, the proposed resource-market-based model of export performance was tested and validated in a less developed country, Rwanda, for exporting SMEs. Originality/value The proposed model of export performance extends the existing literature in two ways: firstly, it integrates internal and external factors to explain the export performance of an SME and secondly, it tests the relative importance of these factors in driving and maintaining international performance.
Purpose This study aims to develop and test a framework for studying the failure of new women entrepreneurs in the small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) sector. Design/methodology/approach Using a sample of 114 unsuccessful entrepreneurs in Kigali, Rwanda, this study aimed to identify key failure factors of women-owned SMEs. This study used mixed methods where quantitative data were analysed using the principal component approach with Varimax rotation to reduce the variables to only three clusters. Findings The study findings revealed that the failure of women-owned SMEs results from the entrepreneur’s inability followed by the enterprise incompetence, which are both internally controllable factors and the inauspicious business environment. These findings contribute to the validity of the dynamic capability theory by explaining how well internal and external factors must stay glued together to avoid failure among women-owned SMEs, something that was not yet previously well documented so far. Originality/value New SMEs are considered a noteworthy constituent of Rwandan development. Unfortunately, most new SMEs, in general, do not grow; their failure rate is high (70%), which raised many worries for both researchers and policymakers as to why this occurs at this stage of business growth. Therefore, to the best of the authors’ knowledge this paper is the first to analyse the reasons for the failure of Rwandan women-owned SMEs in the service sector. These findings are important because they suggest that policies designed to reduce the incidence of SMEs’ failure should take account of the two main factors influencing failure among women entrepreneurs.
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