Export promotion programs: A system-based systematic review and agenda for future research

Despite abundant research, we lack systematic knowledge on the effects of export promotion programs (EPPs). Extant research is largely fragmented and shows contradictory results. To fill this void, the present paper systematically reviews 192 articles to develop a system-based taxonomy and conceptual model of export promotion comprising six main components: system inputs, outputs, firm resources and capabilities, strategies, managers’ characteristics, and networks. The review contributes to extant research by taking stock of the current state of knowledge on the role of different EPPs in companies’ internationalization process. Furthermore, it reveals research gaps that chart important directions for future studies.     

Education,trade and development

A two-sector trade model with scale economies in education can account for some broad features of the contrasting development of those countries which have pursued import substitution and those pursuing export promotion, assuming that the former group is at a ‘low education’ equilibrium where relatively few workers are educated and that the latter group is at a ‘high education equilibrium’ where most workers receive an education. Our analysis suggests that the recent switch toward export promotion by countries disappointed with import substitution may fail to achieve some important development goals, unless the switch is accompanied by major initiatives in education.     

Is export promotion effective in developing countries? Firm-level evidence on the intensive and the extensive margins of exports

How effective are export promotion activities in developing countries? What are the channels through which export promotion affects firms' exports, the intensive margin or the extensive margin? Empirical evidence in this respect is scarce. We aim at filling this gap in the literature by providing evidence on the impact of export promotion on export performance using a unique firm-level dataset for Peru over the period 2001-2005. We find that export promotion actions are associated with increased exports, primarily along the extensive margin, both in terms of markets and products. This result is robust across alternative specifications and estimation methods.     

贸易战略选择:一般情形与大国情形

发展中国家普遍具有的二元经济结构的特征决定了这些国家经济发展的一个根本途径就是实行工业化。可供选择的实现工业化的手段包括出口促进和进口替代战略,而不同战略的业绩比较一直是学者们争论的焦点。文章通过一个简单的三部门模型,讨论了一般情况下不同贸易战略的绩效,并讨论了大国条件下不同贸易战略选择的特殊性以及有关我国贸易战略选择的问题。     

Information acquisition and export entry decisions in small firms

Consistently low usage of export promotion programs and incentives has been observed among small firms. This has led researchers to argue that these firms operate on a limited information basis and deprive themselves of cheap export market knowledge. This study disputes these conclusions and finds that small firms discriminately use alternative sources to acquire foreign market information and assistance. Furthermore, such information acquisition, irrespective of source, is found to have a substantive and significant association with new export market entry. The implications of these findings for government export policy, small firm decision makers, and export literature are explored.     

Rigidity in SME export commencement decisions

In an increasingly globalised world, firms generally have become more internationalised utilising a range of different modes of operation. In the case of small-medium sized enterprises (SMEs), exporting is the favoured mode of international market entry, at least in the early stages of internationalisation, and many governments have supported SME exports through export promotion policies because of the importance of SMEs in employment creation. However, in spite of this policy focus, in most countries, the proportional involvement of SMEs in exporting remains low, which raises an important question as to what factors are inhibiting firms that are successful domestically from exporting. In addressing this question, much scholarly research has focused on the broad concept of ‘export barriers’. These barriers, for example, tariffs, quotas and administrative obstacles, are seen as a primary source of export reluctance. This paper takes a different approach to previous studies and proposes that a firm's resistance to exporting can be better understood through an analysis of the behavioural decision process of firms in line with the Uppsala internationalisation model. We propose ‘lateral rigidity’, first introduced in the literature in the 1970s, as an important concept in export commencement. By applying factor analysis to a survey of Australian SMEs, we provide a measurement model for lateral rigidity, revealing its important factors and thus strengthening understanding of firms' export commencement decisions. We conclude by drawing implications for internationalisation theory, practice and public policy and suggesting ways to extend this work through future research.     

由互补到竞争——解析中韩国际贸易分工格局的转变

本文运用转移份额分析法,对中韩在世界市场的出口竞争力进行了比较分析。结果表明:随着中国总体出口竞争力的提高,中韩贸易分工正由早期的垂直互补演变为水平竞争。中韩之间应通过政府推动、行业牵头和企业自主交流等多种方式加强合作,实现竞争格局下的互利双赢。     

我国大宗商品出口需求价格弹性与最优出口关税——以稀土为例

出口税作为最常用的一种出口限制措施近来在各国贸易政策中屡见不鲜。现有文献对依据"勒纳对称定理"得到的最优关税结论存有异议。文章首先研究了大国作为唯一出口国情况下最优出口关税的决定,认为已有文献关于最优出口税结果不同的根源在于假设差异所致,然后,分析了非唯一出口国情况下大国最优出口关税的决定,最优出口关税和出口商品的需求价格弹性、本国出口所占世界市场份额和其他出口国的供给弹性有关,最后,以稀土为例,采用面板数据模型测算了我国稀土出口的需求价格弹性和需求收入弹性,并得到了我国稀土出口的最优关税。     

哈尔滨与东北亚区域经济合作的现状、问题与对策

随着东北亚区域合作的不断深化及区域内各国双边、多边经贸关系的确立,哈尔滨与东北亚国家的经贸合作进入了快速发展时期。对于哈尔滨与东北亚区域经济合作中不尽如人意的进出口贸易增长幅度小、对俄贸易出口额少、出口商品附加值较低、整体投资环境差等问题,应通过构建出口生产体系,扩大对外贸易与科技合作,建立重点项目推进机制,提升经济的科技含量,进行跨国经营,加快经济国际化步伐。     

电子商务平台出口影响因素及其溢出效应——基于消费者关键词搜索视角的研究

跨境电子商务平台上汇集了消费者对商品的"碎片化"需求,具体表现为消费者搜索大量表述各异的关键词。搜索同一个关键词的消费者具有相同的需求从而形成了特定的细分市场,因此本文从依据关键词划分的细分市场角度出发,在价格和评分的基础上引入搜索排名作为电商平台出口影响因素,由于跨境电子商务平台上广泛存在着交叉销售行为,本文还分析了上述影响因素对企业其他商品出口的溢出效应。研究结果表明:商品的排名提升、价格下降和评分提高不仅能增加其细分市场出口量,还能增加企业其他商品的出口量;其中商品排名提升的影响是通过增加商品点击量和提高消费者购买意愿来实现的;在消费者有品牌偏好或明确购买目标的细分市场中,商品排名的作用会有不同程度的减弱;当商品和消费者需求越匹配时,商品排名提升对促进出口的作用越大。     

Psychic distance,marketing strategy and performance in export ventures of Brazilian firms

Compared to other issues examined in the exporting literature, less attention has been paid to the performance implications of following a standardisation or adaptation strategy. In addition, despite the interest in the psychic distance construct in the international marketing literature, there has been also little empirical research on the effect of managers' psychic distance on the international marketing strategies of the firm. To address these issues the present study offers an empirical investigation of the relationship among psychic distance, international marketing strategies, and export performance of Brazilian firms. A sample of senior managers of industrial firms in Brazil is used to test the hypotheses. The results reported here indicate that the degree of international marketing strategy adaptation is affected by the manager's psychic distance towards the foreign markets. Product and promotion adaptation were found to have a positive effect on export performance while surprisingly, distribution and price adaptation were found to influence export performance negatively. Contrary to expectations, the results also confirm that psychic distance has a positive effect on the export performance of the firm. Implications of these findings along with the limitations of the study are discussed.     

Trade promotion and SME export performance

In this paper, we attempt to further develop an international resource-based view of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by examining the effectiveness of a set of export promotion services. Specifically, we investigate the impact of US state-sponsored export promotion activities on the international marketing efforts of small to medium-sized enterprises. We hypothesize and find that, even after controlling for internal firm resources, the use of trade shows and programs identifying agents and distributors contribute positively to SME satisfaction with export performance. Managerial implications are discussed.     

Evaluating government export promotion: some conceptual and empirical approaches

This article addresses an important aspect of marketing that has not received its due place in the research and academic literature devoted to international trade: It endeavors to provide an authoritative analysis of how to tackle the evaluation of government-funded export programs for companies participating in, for example, trade fairs, missions, symposia, or “weeks.” The article distinguishes particularly export promotion at the macro (government) level and the micro (firm) levels—this distinction is often blurred in the sparse literature on the subject. A general “a priori” analysis from first principles is followed by a specific, quantified approach of a cost / benefit nature; this is applied on a multiyear basis to produce the outcome needed to identify incremental revenues accruing to exporting and participating companies. Another specific approach using return on investment is also explored. The article concludes with some observations about current research and indicates further issues on which work is still needed.     

Upgrading and Competitiveness Within the Export Manufacturing Industry in Central America,Mexico, and the Dominican Republic

The competitiveness of the export manufacturing industry (EMI) in Central America, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic has been significantly eroded by increasing competition from Asian countries in the past decade. This paper examines technological upgrading strategies followed by export-oriented manufacturing firms that operate under various investment attraction and export promotion schemes such as maquila and free zones in order to face the increasing Asian competition. In particular, it aims to study why the strategies followed in the two main sectors of the EMI—electronics and apparel—have had significantly different impacts on export competitiveness. Although the empirical evidence shows that both sectors have mainly followed process upgrading strategies, and to a lesser extent functional and inter-sectoral upgrading, the type of governance of the global value chain, sector-specific characteristics, and corporate strategies help explain their diverging impacts on competitiveness.     

FDI、出口贸易与经济增长的关系——基于VAR模型的实证研究

在开放经济条件下,外商直接投资（FDI）、出口贸易和经济增长的关系一直是国内外学者研究的热点。运用向量自回归（VAR）模型、脉冲响应函数、方差分解等计量经济学方法,采用1997年至2013年的所有季度数据,对FDI、出口贸易与经济增长的关系进行了实证研究,得出外商直接投资、出口贸易对我国经济增长具有显著的促进作用的结论,因此,今后我国应进一步加强对FDI的产业导向,积极优化外贸环境、改善外贸结构以引进外商直接投资。     

Entrepreneurial Climate and U.S. State Foreign Trade Offices as Predictors of Export Success

American state governments sponsor numerous foreign trade offices (FTOs) throughout the world. Although these offices constitute one of the most expensive export promotion activities, almost no research examining their effectiveness has been undertaken. Based on data from 114 state-sponsored FTOs, we hypothesize and find a positive relationship between expenditures for trade offices and exports. In addition, findings suggest that state export levels are conditioned by an interaction between FTO expenditures and variations in state entrepreneurial climate. Implications of these findings for managers and policy-makers are explored.     

我国对“一带一路”沿线国家直接投资的出口效应

自“一带一路”倡议提出以来,我国与其沿线区域的经济合作日益密切,沿线国家日益成为我国直接投资和出口贸易的重要目的地。为进一步提升我国出口规模和结构、畅通国际大循环,发挥直接投资的出口规模促进效应和出口结构优化效应显得尤为重要。采用57个沿线国家的面板数据,从我国直接投资对出口规模和出口结构的影响全面分析其出口效应,结果表明:第一,我国直接投资的出口促进效应和抑制效应并存,效应因国家不同而存在差异,同时在空间和经济发展水平等方面存在共同特征。第二,我国对沿线相对欠发达国家和相对较发达国家的直接投资动机存在差异,并导致出口效应存在异质性;对沿线国家的直接投资可以在一定程度上促进出口结构的优化,而且对于资本密集型产品的出口拉动作用更为明显;整体来讲,对相对欠发达国家的直接投资带来的出口结构优化作用比相对发达国家更为显著。因此,我国未来要在充分考虑直接投资的出口效应的基础上,精准选择与优化投资方向,采取各种措施充分发挥直接投资的出口促进效应,提升我国在全球价值链和产业链中的地位,有效实现内外循环相互促进。     

Exporting and Environmental Performance: A Firm‐level Productivity Analysis

The objective of this paper is to study empirically the relationship between export orientation and firms’ environmental performance from different perspectives of trade theory. On the one hand, productivity heterogeneity is analysed within the new trade‐theoretical framework. The approach followed is to determine firm‐level productivity components, including an environmental productivity indicator (as a performance measure) and taking as reference the Spanish food industry. On the other hand, from the traditional comparative advantage perspective, this study also develops an export performance model to evaluate the effect of technology, environmental variables and factor endowment on exporting. The results show greater environmental productivity and corporate efficiency for export‐oriented firms. Our findings also determine the positive effect on firms’ export intensity of environmental performance as a factor of specialisation and technology proficiency.     

How Small Business Advisory Program Delivery Methods (Collective Learning,Tailored, and Practice‐Based Approaches) Affect Learning and Innovation

Past studies relate small business advisory program effectiveness to advisory characteristics such as advisory intensity and scope. We contribute to existing literature by seeking to identify the impact of different advisory program methods of delivery on learning and subsequent firm innovation behavior. Our research is based on a survey of 257 Australian firms completing small business advisory programs in the three years preceding the research. We explore the range of small business advisory program delivery methods in which our surveyed firms participated and, with reference to the literature on organizational learning and innovation, we analyze predictors of firms' learning ability and innovativeness based on the identified delivery methods. First, we found that business advisory programs that involved high levels of collective learning and tailored approaches enhanced firms' perceptions of their learning of critical skills or capabilities. We also found that small business advisory programs that were delivered by using practice‐based approaches enhanced firms' subsequent organizational innovation. We verified this finding by testing whether firms that have participated in small business advisory services subsequently demonstrate improved behavior in terms of organizational innovativeness, when compared with matched firms that have not participated in an advisory program.