An empirical investigation of the antecedents and performance outcomes of export innovativeness

The present study develops and empirically tests a conceptual model of the organizational, strategic, and environmental drivers of export innovativeness. The relationship between export innovativeness and export performance is also examined. Using data collected from 168 small- and medium-sized direct exporters, we find that decentralization in decision making, export market orientation, information exchange and export market dynamism have a significant influence on exporting firms’ degree of innovativeness. Furthermore, export innovativeness has a significant positive effect on export performance. Several theoretical and managerial implications are derived from these findings. Directions for future research are also provided.     

Skill Upgrading and the Real Exchange Rate

This paper examines the effect of changes in the real exchange rate on skill upgrading in the case of Chile. Using plant‐level data from the manufacturing sector, we find that a real depreciation increases the share of skilled workers in the total wage bill in exporters but not in non‐exporters. This result suggests that depreciations or, more generally, increases in export profitability, may induce exporters to adopt more skill‐intensive technologies. This finding gives support to recent models of trade that highlight the possible effect of the real exchange rate on skill upgrading and wage inequality. This paper also finds that real depreciations increase plants’ export intensity, suggesting that skill upgrading for firms that are already exporters is the channel through which real exchange depreciations affect wage inequality.     

The decision to export: Firm heterogeneity,sunk costs,and spatial concentration

Integrating perspectives of the Uppsala model of internationalization process, international new ventures and trade theories of heterogeneous firms, this paper develops a dynamic discrete-choice model of export decisions by a profit-maximizing firm. Empirical analyses based on a panel data set of Chinese firms show that sunk costs, productivity, firm size, foreign ownership, industry competition and spatial concentration are positively associated with the decision to export, while state ownership has a negative association with the probability of exporting. However, we find that the relationships are not always uniform and depend on firm-specific idiosyncrasies. The results show that foreign-invested firms and large firms (regardless of ownership) rely on productivity performance related advantages for expanding overseas, while domestic firms, especially small- and medium-sized enterprises, build competitive advantage by leveraging agglomeration economies and the associated spillovers. Our results highlight the role of firm heterogeneity, sunk costs and spatial concentration in shaping the export behavior of firms.     

Exchange rate volatility and economic performance in Peru: a firm level analysis

This paper analyzes the impact of the exchange rate volatility on the performance of the Peruvian economy using financial information from 163 non-financial listed firms. We find evidence that, for firms holding dollar-denominated debt, investment decisions are negatively affected by real exchange rate depreciation. The reasons behind this result are: (i) the high degree of liability dollarization and currency mismatch that create the conditions for a balance sheet effect and a financial stress in the aftermath of a currency depreciation; (ii) the strong bank-lending channel that follows and reinforces the balance sheet effect; (iii) the domestic demand shrinkage that affects severely firms’ sales; and (iv) the relatively small and poorly diversified export sector.     

Export Propensities and Intensities of Small and Medium Manufacturing Enterprises in South Africa

The basic premise of this study is that enterprise linkages, export marketing, and sunk costs significantly affect the propensities to export and intensities of exporting of small and medium manufacturing enterprises in South Africa. The hypothesis tested was that small and medium manufacturing enterprises break through into foreign markets with relative ease when involved in linkages because they facilitate information flows, thereby easing the international marketing burden on the shoulders of individual enterprise units. A theoretical perspective adopted by this study was that small- and medium-sized enterprises involved in enterprise linkages that have intermediaries are in a better position to enter and exit international markets. Empirical testing using survey data confirms this. This study, therefore, recommends that export promotion initiatives should take these factors into account. There are many possibilities discussed in this study. The important point is that there is now clarity about the main hindrances to probabilities of exporting and export intensities of small and medium manufacturing enterprises in South Africa. By implication, export market intelligence should be prioritized.     

Firm R&D,Absorptive Capacity and Learning by Exporting: Firm‐level Evidence from China

The absorptive capacity of firms developed through R&D promotes learning by exporting. In this paper, we estimate the instantaneous and long‐run productivity effects of exporting on the universe of Chinese manufacturing firms. We find that exporting has very different productivity effects for firms with different pre‐export R&D status. It has large and lasting productivity effects for firms with pre‐export R&D, while it has little effects for firms without pre‐export R&D. Furthermore, the effect of exporting increases with the number of years of pre‐export R&D investment.     

The Strategies and Characteristics of Exporting SMEs:

The behaviour of exporting firms is the result of the complex interaction of many factors of the external and internal environment both at the national and international level. This paper presents the main findings from an exploratory study which assessed the characteristics and marketing strategies of small- to medium-sized exporting firms in a developing country, Peru. Statistical analysis using non-parametric methods to measure the behaviour of these firms used criteria taken from studies of firms in mostly developed countries. The observations from the analysis indicate that characteristics such as size and management perceptions and commitment, and strategies related to market concentration in developed countries taking into consideration export sales volume as a measure of performance (dependant variable) were positively associated to the success of these Peruvian firms and added to their competitiveness.     

Trade effects of the Europe agreements: A theory-based gravity approach

We analyze normalized productivity differences for 15 developing Latin American countries and four firm types: National Domestic, National Exporter, Foreign Domestic, and Foreign Exporter. There are no productivity thresholds for viability, export activity, or multinational activity, but we do find a clear size productivity premium and development productivity premium in the manufacturing sectors. We also find a clear foreign-ownership productivity premium, both for domestic firms and for exporting firms and both for manufacturing sectors and services sectors. In contrast, we only find an export productivity premium for national firms in the manufacturing sectors.     

Exporting status and success in innovation: evidence from CIS micro data for EU countries

Using a large sample of micro data from four waves of Community Innovation Survey for EU member states, we investigate the relationship between firms’ export status and different sorts of innovation activities. We find systematically positive relationship between the two, whereby the strongest correlation is found in case of product innovation and the weakest in case of organizational innovations. While aggregate data show that innovation success is increasing in firm size, we find that exporting has the strongest effect on innovation in the medium-sized firms. We also explore cross-country differences in the impact of export status on innovation. Countries with a higher share of exports in GDP and greater share of spending on research and development generally display a stronger correlation between exporting status and innovation.     

Does real exchange rate depreciation increase productivity? Analysis using Korean firm‐level data

We examine the effects of real exchange rate (RER ) depreciation shocks on firm productivity. Using the firm‐level data of Korean manufacturing industries for 2006–13, we distinguish between yearly RER movement and persistent RER depreciation during 2007–09 and analyse how each affects productivity. We find the positive effect of RER depreciation on productivity among exporters, and this positive effect increases with higher export exposure. However, the positive productivity gain disappears when the depreciation persists. Our findings suggest that while immediate depreciation leads to productivity upgrade via price competitiveness and scale expansion, persistent depreciation nullifies the productivity gain by slackening the innovation effort.     

ENTREPRENEURIAL EXPORTERS: The Canadian Experience

The increasing globalization of commerce has presented incalculable challenges as well as opportunities for small- and medium-sized enterprises, particularly exporting firms. This study focuses on the relationship between entrepreneurship and successful export marketing performance, testing the hypothesis that entrepreneurship is positively related to such performance. The research reveals that entrepreneurial behavior is positively correlated with export marketing behavior, suggesting both firm and government actions to boost competitiveness.     

ICT as facilitator of internationalisation in small- and medium-sized firms

Based on harmonised and uniquely linked firm-level datasets for a large group of European countries, this study investigates the role of different information and communication technology (ICT) capacities in the internationalisation of small- and medium-sized firms (defined as having 10–249 employees). Both the decision to export and the export intensity are explored in this respect. The different ICT capacities are captured by online presence (having a website), online transactions (e-sales activities) and proportion of employees with broadband internet access or post-upper secondary ICT education. The results show a significant and positive relationship between the ICT capacities and the engagement in exporting activities of small- and medium-sized firms, although the kind of ICT capacity of importance seems to vary across countries. In countries where the ICT usage in firms is less developed, mainly basic capacities such as online presence are related to the decision to export. There are also indications that the export intensity is more strongly related to advanced ICT capacities than the pure decision to export.     

Does foreign investment benefit the exporting activities of Vietnamese firms?

Using firm-level data, this paper examines the effects of foreign investment on the exporting behaviour of domestic firms in the Vietnamese manufacturing and service sectors. Applying the Heckman selection model on panel data and following the Wooldridge approach, we find that investment by foreign firms has a significant positive effect on the decision of domestic firms in the same and upstream sectors to export. The proportion of exports of domestic firms declines through horizontal and forward linkages, but increases through backward linkages in the manufacturing sector. However, there is only weak evidence in support of export spillovers on domestic firms in the service sector. We also find that the presence of foreign firms has differing effects on the exporting activities of low- versus high-tech firms in the manufacturing sector.     

Productivity and Learning‐by‐exporting: A Firm‐level Analysis of Indian Manufacturing

In this paper, we examine whether firms become productive by learning through exporting. To this end, we estimate the production function using microdata of Indian manufacturing firms operating in the period 1991–2001. In contrast to studies on developed countries, our results provide evidence that Indian manufacturing firms are experiencing a rise in productivity through entering export markets and thus experience the learning effect. We also find that there is a productivity rise prior to exporting. Therefore, our results also support the self‐selection mechanism for exporting.     

Learning by exporting: Lessons from high-technology SMEs

We investigate the learning by exporting hypothesis by examining the effect of exporting on the subsequent innovation performance of a sample of high-technology SMEs based in the UK. We find evidence of learning by exporting, but the pattern of this effect is complex. Exporting helps high-tech SMEs innovate subsequently, but does not make them more innovation intensive. There is evidence that consistent exposure to export markets helps firms overcome the innovation hurdle, but that there is a positive scale effect of exposure to export markets which allows innovative firms to sell more of their new-to-market products on entering export markets. Service sector firms are able to reap the benefits of exposure to export markets at an earlier (entry) stage of the internationalization process than are manufacturing firms. Innovation-intensive firms exhibit a different pattern of entry to and exit from export markets from low-intensity innovators, and this is reflected in different effects of exporting.     

Exchange Rate Exposure and its Determinants: Evidence from Indian Firms

This article examines the determinants of the exchange rate exposure by comparing both manufacturing and service sector firms in India over the period of 2000 to 2013. First, the study finds that service sector firms are more exposed to exchange rate changes than manufacturing firms in India. Second, the results indicate that the market-to-book ratio and export are significant and positively related; however, size is negatively related to the exchange rate exposure of both the manufacturing and service sector firms. These results are robust with the estimation using a trade-weighted exchange rate.     

Spillover Effects from Inward FDI on the Exporting Decisions of Chilean Manufacturing Plants

We study the presence of spillover effects on three exporting decisions (likelihood, quantity, propensity) of Chilean manufacturing firms during the period 2001–2004. Evidence suggests that Chilean firm’s export likelihood is positively affected by other domestic firms’ exports. In contrast, exports by MNEs operating in Chile negatively affect Chilean firm’s export likelihood, although MNE-employment generates positive spillover effects, suggesting externalities in human capital. We also find evidence of spillovers from MNE activity on the proportion of production the firm exports (export propensity), but not on how much they decide to export (export quantity).     

Domestic transport infrastructure and firms’ export market participation

Investment in transport infrastructure reduces the cost of distance and enables firms to establish contacts over larger distances. Using data from a panel of Spanish manufacturing firms and geographic information system techniques, this article studies the impact of domestic transport cost reductions on firms’ export market participation, taking into account the role of entry costs and other firm characteristics. We estimate dynamic probability models, controlling for the unobserved heterogeneity of firms and for the simultaneity of firms’ export and location decisions. Our results demonstrate a positive effect of domestic transport infrastructure improvements on small and medium-sized firms’ probability of exporting.     

Do exports generate higher productivity? Evidence from Slovenia

I use matched sampling techniques to analyze whether firms that start exporting become more productive, controlling for the self-selection into export markets. To this end, I use micro data of Slovenian manufacturing firms operating in the period 1994-2000. Overall I find that export entrants become more productive once they start exporting. The productivity gap between exporters and their domestic counterparts increases further over time. These results also hold at the industry level and are robust to other controls that may be associated with increased productivity, such as private ownership. Using information on the (firm-level) destination of exports, I find that the productivity gains are higher for firms exporting towards high income regions.     

Migration of skilled workers and innovation: A European Perspective

We study empirically and theoretically the growth of U.S. manufacturing exports from 1987 to 2007. We use plant-level data on exporters' export intensity to identify the changes in iceberg costs over this period. Given this change in iceberg costs, we find that a GE model with heterogeneous establishments and dynamic exporting decision from a sunk cost of starting to export is consistent with both aggregate U.S. export growth and the changes in the number and size of U.S. exporters. The model also captures the gradual response of U.S. exports to the cut in iceberg costs. A model with a static exporting decision generates substantially less trade growth and misses out on the timing of export growth. We also study the interplay between changes in the structure of manufacturing and trade. We find that the growth in trade contributed little to the contraction in U.S. manufacturing while changes in the structure of manufacturing from changes in sectoral productivity, capital intensity, idiosyncratic shocks, and corporate taxation reduced U.S. export growth by as much as 10%.