Export Performance: Is It Possible through Knowledge and Capabilities? Evidence from Turkish Manufacturing Firms

Purpose: This article measures to what extent export performance is affected by certain resource-based view (RBV) elements and seeks to elucidate relationships between these elements. Design: Among those RBV elements, knowledge and experience as resources, and marketing, production, product development, logistics, and service differentiation as capabilities, are chosen to be the basis of this research. Their effects on export performance are measured with a survey applied to personnel of Turkish manufacturing firms operating in Istanbul district. Findings: The results show us that marketing planning capabilities and service differentiation capabilities have a significant effect on export performance. The overwhelming effect of knowledge and experience of firms on marketing planning capabilities is one of the intriguing findings. Notwithstanding that, we found no trace of a relationship between product development capabilities and service differentiation capabilities. Value: This research provides several managerial and academic implications by contributing to a resource-based view in terms of knowledge and capabilities. Additionally, in this study, it is underlined that collective knowledge is vital for achieving high export performance.