La distancia psíquica en el ámbito de la selección de mercados internacionales: propuesta de definición y presencia en las PYMEs españolas exportadoras de bienes de consumo = The psychic distance in the field of the international market selection: definition and presence in Spanish SMEs exporters of consumer products

Abstract

<p>Dos cuestiones relevantes en el ámbito de la selección de mercados de exportación (SME en lo sucesivo) confluyen en este artículo: profundizar sobre la decisión de SME, identificando la presencia de distancia psíquica como factor limitativo de la decisión; y ante la ausencia de una definición generalmente aceptada de la distancia psíquica, ofrecer un constructo ecléctico debidamente contrastado.</p><p>La encuesta de cuestionario es el recurso empleado para obtener la información necesaria para lograr los objetivos establecidos, y la estadística descriptiva es la técnica empleada para validar el constructo propuesto y conocer las limitaciones del mismo.</p><p>La decisión de SME es compleja, por la intervención de la propia estrategia de negocio y la percepción de la distancia psíquica que los mercados potenciales transmiten a los decisores. En el caso de la muestra analizada, pymes españolas exportadoras de bienes de consumo, la distancia psíquica actúa en las primeras etapas de exportación, circunscribiendo la SME a países psíquicamente próximos. Se ha identificado un patrón psíquico-gradualista que se estabiliza cuando la experiencia modera la percepción de distancia. A partir de ese momento, las empresas se encuentran con el know-how preciso para abordar mercados potenciales más complejos.</p><p class="Formatolibre">Two relevant issues in the area of export market selection (EMS hereafter) converge in this article: to delve into how the decision is constructed, identifying the presence of psychic distance as a limiting factor, and in the absence of a generally accepted definition of psychic distance, offer an eclectic construct duly contrasted.</p><p>The questionnaire survey is the resource used to obtain the necessary information to achieve the established objectives, and descriptive statistics is the technique used to validate the proposed construct and to know the limitations. </p><p>The research focuses on small and medium-sized Spanish exporters of consumer goods because of the relevance they have in the Spanish economy as a whole. Exporters of services or large companies are not included in this study, in one case because of the product and in the other, their resource availability needed a differentiated approach.</p><p>The decision of SME is complex, by the intervention of the own business strategy and the perception of the psychic distance that the potential markets transmit to the decision makers. In the case of the analyzed sample, the psychic distance acts in the first stages of export circumscribing the EMS to psychically close countries. A psychic-gradualist pattern has been identified that stabilizes when experience moderates the perception of psychic distance. From then on, companies have the precise know-how to address more complex potential markets</p><p> </p>

Delimitation of the experience factor in the decision to select international markets by Spanish SMEs: The influence of psychic distance

“…Under these conditions, the gradualist theory may provide greater clarity and, as a result, the concept of psychic distance, as an explanatory variable, may be more suitable for what this theory proposes. Experience in the field of market selection has been considered to be essentially a gradualist accumulation of knowledge, because its absence distorts information between certain competitive environments and the organization, conditioning the understanding of certain potential markets (Vahlne & Wiedersheim-Paul, 1977;Carlson, 1974;Luostarinen, 1979). Based on this hypothesis, the first selections of potential proactive markets tend to favor those countries perceived to be closest in geographical terms and, as the learning stages overlap, export activity is deployed towards more complex markets, i.e., those which are distant in terms of psychic perception.…”