Bringing Export Performance Metrics into Annual Reports: The APEV Scale and the PERFEX Scorecard

Abstract

Annual company reports rarely distinguish between domestic and export market performance and even more rarely provide information about annual indicators of a specific export venture's performance. In this study, the authors develop and test a new measure for assessing the annual performance of an export venture (the APEV scale). The new measure comprises five dimensions: (1) annual export venture financial performance, (2) annual export venture strategic performance, (3) annual export venture achievement, (4) contribution of the export venture to annual exporting operations, and (5) satisfaction with annual export venture overall performance. The authors use the APEV scale to generate a scorecard of performance in exporting (the PERFEX scorecard) to assess export performance at the corporate level while comparatively evaluating all export ventures of the firm. Both the scale and the scorecard could help disclose export venture performance and could be useful instruments for annual planning, management, monitoring, and improvement of exporting programs.

Key Factors for Successful Export Performance for Small Firms

“…As Styles (1998) suggests, export performance constructs, conceptualizations, and operationalizations are complex and inconsistent. No single definition of export per formance has been widely accepted and used over the years (Lages and Lages 2004). To this point, one of the major criticisms of the export performance literature has been the lack of a uniform and widely accepted measure of export performance (Katsikeas, Leonidou, and Morgan 2000;Sousa 2004 On a positive note, Lages, Lages, and Lages (2005) point to several reasons subjective measures may be suit able: the difficulty of obtaining financial export per formance data, managers' unwillingness to provide such information, and the lack of specific export information in financial reports.…”

“…No single definition of export per formance has been widely accepted and used over the years (Lages and Lages 2004). To this point, one of the major criticisms of the export performance literature has been the lack of a uniform and widely accepted measure of export performance (Katsikeas, Leonidou, and Morgan 2000;Sousa 2004 On a positive note, Lages, Lages, and Lages (2005) point to several reasons subjective measures may be suit able: the difficulty of obtaining financial export per formance data, managers' unwillingness to provide such information, and the lack of specific export information in financial reports. Furthermore, Lages and Lages (2004, p. 39) suggest that by measuring perceptions of performance "instead of performance per se, we are able to capture the degree to which performance has matched the aspiration levels of the firm from one year to the next."…”

Benchmarking Firm-level Resources, Capabilities, and Postures Driving Export Performance of SMEs

“…EXPORT PERFORMANCE (Lages et al, 2005) A strong proclivity for low-risk projects (with normal and certain rates of return) vs. a strong proclivity for high-risk projects (with chances of very high returns) 0.84…”

“…Introductory statements included instructions of the rating process. Export performance was captured using 14 items from Lages, Lages, and Lages (2005) on 5 dimensions (financial, strategic, goal achievement, satisfaction, contribution to operations), which were aggregated to an overall export performance measure. The performance rating referred to export activities within the previous year.…”

Examining the Impact of Industry Factors on Organizational Export Performance: The Mediating Role of Promotion Adaptation

“…Export performance may be measured through such indicators as sales figures, profits, marketing scales or other subjective measuring tools, customer satisfaction as an example (Nguyen, 2012). Lages, et..al, (2005) stated export performance can be described in objective terms such as sales, profits, or marketing measures or by subjective measures such as distributor or customer satisfaction.…”