Competitive Strategy and Performance of Exporting SMEs: An Empirical Investigation of the Impact of Their Export Information Search and Competencies

Abstract

The SMEs' limited capacity to acquire information and use sources is a major factor explaining their low level of involvement and performance on export markets. Nonetheless, a small amount of applied research has been undertaken on this subject. We present the results of an inquiry into the impact of information search and competencies on the competitive strategy and export performance of 346 exporting manufacturing SMEs. The research model postulates that the performance of these SMEs is determined by their general competitive strategy, which in turn is explained by the ability of the business to acquire and manage foreign market information. The results of an analysis using a PLS method confirm three of the four hypotheses.

Satisfaction with Knowledge and Competencies: A Multi-Country Study of Employers and Business Graduates

“…Therefore with only one exception (the AVE of Business Knowledge Capable, in the Austrian model, which indicated relatively high measurement error), all the measures were above the recommended thresholds (Acedo and Casillas, 2007;Fornell and Larcker, 1981;Julien and Ramangalahy, 2003;Nunally, 1967). Regarding the evaluation of structural models, two critical aspects were examined, taking account of recommendations by (Marcoulides, 1998): the size of R-square (amount of explained variance) and the statistical significance of all the structural path coefficients.…”

Roles of Networks and Social Capital in the Success of International Entrepreneurs: Case of the Chinese Merchants in Senegal

“…-Information and identification of the international opportunity (Imm Zain & Ng, 2006;Julien & Ramangaly, 2003); -International learning process (Saarenketo, Puumalainen, Kuivalainen & Kylaheiko, 2004. ) -Leverage on tangible and intangible resources and marketing capacity (Moen, Morten & Iver, 2004 ;Zahra, Korry &d Yu, 2005;Zain & Ng Imm, 2006...) -The decision of market choice (Bell, 1995, Moen &d al., 2004Zain &d Siew Imm Ng, 2006) 3…”

“…(2008), belonging to a network requires access to useful information. We formulate the proposition that "the networks provide a forum to obtain reliable information (Ramangaly & Julien, 2003) that can inform decision making of the individual entrepreneur. "…”

Modelling Owner Experience: Linking Theory and Practice

“…Hitt and Ireland (1985) measured 55 distinctive competencies on a seven-point scale ranging from "greatest strategic significance" to "strategically insignificant." Acar (1993) (Chandler and Jansen, 1992;Edelman, Brush and Manolova, 2001); market decision-making competencies (Cummins, Gilmore and Carson, Undated); export competencies (Julien and Ramangalahy, 2003); technical capability/computer technology competencies (Zinger, LeBrasseur and Zanibbi, 2001); innovative competencies (Lefebvre and Lefebvre, 2000); Euro/SME management competencies (Eyre and Smallman, 1998); and process competencies (Chandler and Jansen;Woolgar et al, 1998;Iles and Yolles, 2002;Hansen, Sondergard and Meredith, 2002;Van Gils and Zwart, 2004).…”

“…Au niveau de la variable, l'adoption d'une nouvelle technologie, le développement d'un nouveau produit, les communications en ligne, les promotions et la publicité, ainsi que les habiletés logicielles possèdent le plus fort pouvoir discriminatif entre les propriétaires d'entreprises qui veulent grandir et les autres. Pour finir, on passe en revue les implications pour la recherche à venir.Owner experience is central to firm growth and performance (Boyatzis, 1982;Chandler and Jansen, 1992;Chandler and Hanks, 1994;Leitch, 1995;Freel, 1998 Freel, , 1999Aliouat et al, 1999; Baldwin, 1997;Lefebvre and Lefebvre, 2000;Julien and Ramangalahy, 2003;Van Gils and Zwart, 2004). However, researchers have noted that the literature is fragmented, reflecting little consensus about the definition, construction and appropriate methodologies to examine experience (Reuber and Fischer, 1995;Smith and Morse, 2005).…”