The relationship between export assistance and performance improvement in Portuguese export ventures: An empirical test of the mediating role of pricing strategy adaptation

Purpose – The article aims to test how pricing strategy adaptation to the foreign market mediates the relationship between export assistance and annual export performance improvement. It also aims to consider the effects of management international experience and export market competition.Design/methodology/approach – Structural equation modelling with WLS estimation is used to test the direct and indirect influences of the variables on short‐term export performance.Findings – Surprisingly, the findings reveal that the total effects of export assistance on annual export performance improvement are non‐significant, because although export assistance has a direct positive impact on performance, there is a negative indirect impact through export pricing strategy adaptation.Research limitations/implications – These surprising results suggest that future research is required to incorporate and test the intervening and indirect effects among variables.Practical implications – The findings also indicate that bot...

[1]  Barton A. Weitz.  Introduction to Special Issue on Competition in Marketing , 1985 .

[2]  S. Tamer Cavusgil,et al.  Strategic Orientations in Export Pricing: A Clustering Approach to Create Firm Taxonomies , 2003 .

[3]  C. N. Axinn,et al.  EXPORT PERFORMANCE: DO MANAGERIAL PERCEPTIONS MAKE A DIFFERENCE? , 1988 .

[4]  P. M. Podsakoff,et al.  Self-Reports in Organizational Research: Problems and Prospects , 1986 .

[5]  Luis Filipe Lages,et al.  The SERPVAL scale: a multi-item instrument for measuring service personal values , 2005 .

[6]  Neil A. Morgan,et al.  Antecedents of Export Venture Performance: A Theoretical Model and Empirical Assessment , 2004 .

[7]  William R. Darden,et al.  Causal Models in Marketing , 1980 .

[8]  Michael R. Czinkota,et al.  Executive Insights: A National Export Assistance Policy for New and Growing Businesses , 1994 .

[9]  Aviv Shoham.  Bounded Rationality, Planning, Standardization of International Strategy, and Export Performance: A Structural Model Examination , 1999 .

[10]  Chris Styles.  Export Performance Measures in Australia and the United Kingdom , 1998 .

[11]  M. Theodosiou,et al.  Factors Influencing the Degree of International Pricing Strategy Standardization of Multinational Corporations , 2001 .

[12]  S. Samiee,et al.  A Model for Assessing Performance in Small U.S. Exporting Firms , 1991 .

[13]  T. Clark,et al.  Exchange Rate Pass-Through and International Pricing Strategy: A Conceptual Framework and Research Propositions , 1999 .

[14]  Robert L. Phillips,et al.  MARKETS VS. MANAGEMENT: WHAT ‘DRIVES’ PROFITABILITY? , 1996 .

[15]  S. Samiee.  Pricing in marketing strategies of U.S.- and foreign-based companies , 1987 .

[16]  E. Johnsen.  Richard M. Cyert & James G. March, A Behavioral Theory of The Firm, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1963, 332 s. , 1964 .

[17]  S. Jain,et al.  Standardization of International Marketing Strategy: Some Research Hypotheses , 1989 .

[18]  Anthony C. Koh.  Relationships among Organisational Characteristics, Marketing Strategy and Export Performance , 1991 .

[19]  D. B. Montgomery,et al.  Managerial Identification of Competitors , 1999 .

[20]  K. Boulding.  General Systems Theory---The Skeleton of Science , 1956 .

[21]  Luis Filipe Lages,et al.  Main Consequences of Prior Export Performance Results: An Exploratory Study of European Exporters , 2006 .

[22]  Keith D. Brouthers,et al.  The Impact of Firm and Managerial Characteristics on Small and Medium-Sized Greek Firms' Export Performance , 1998 .

[23]  Bass Re.  General system theory; a new approach to unity of science. 3. Unity of nature. , 1951 .

[24]  S. Tamer Cavusgil,et al.  Internal Determinants of Export Marketing Behavior: An Empirical Investigation , 1981 .

[25]  W. Bilkey.  Variables Associated with Export Profitability , 1982 .

[26]  Ke Te Le Mei Ru He Deng Yi.  Marketing management: analysis. planning. implementation and control , 2000 .

[27]  T. Lant,et al.  A Contingency Model of Response to Performance Feedback , 1999 .

[28]  S. Cavusgil,et al.  Marketing Strategy-Performance Relationship: An Investigation of the Empirical Link in Export Market Ventures , 1994 .

[29]  B. Schlegelmilch,et al.  Drivers of Commitment and its Impact on Performance in Cross-Cultural Buyer-Seller Relationships: The Importer's Perspective , 2002 .

[30]  Tage Koed Madsen,et al.  Successful Export Marketing Management: Some Empirical Evidence , 1989 .

[31]  David Knoke,et al.  JOB TRAINING IN U.S. ORGANIZATIONS , 1994 .

[32]  S. West,et al.  The robustness of test statistics to nonnormality and specification error in confirmatory factor analysis. , 1996 .

[33]  磯野 修.  Arthur S. Goldberger, Econometric Theory. Wiley, New York, c. 1964 , 1964 .

[34]  D. Tookey.  Factors Associated With Success In Exporting , 1964 .

[35]  J. Terborg,et al.  ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE AND ORGANIZATIONAL LEVEL TRAINING AND SUPPORT , 1985 .

[36]  Neil A. Morgan,et al.  Firm-level export performance assessment: Review, evaluation, and development , 2000 .

[37]  Terry S. Overton,et al.  Estimating Nonresponse Bias in Mail Surveys , 1977 .

[38]  Luis Filipe Lages,et al.  A Conceptual Framework of the Determinants of Export Performance , 2000 .

[39]  J. Johanson,et al.  The Internationalization Process of the Firm—A Model of Knowledge Development and Increasing Foreign Market Commitments , 1977 .

[40]  Barbara Stöttinger.  Strategic Export Pricing: A Long and Winding Road , 2001 .

[41]  J. Hair.  Multivariate data analysis , 1972 .

[42]  F. H. Rolf Seringhaus,et al.  THE IMPACT OF GOVERNMENT EXPORT MARKETING ASSISTANCE , 1986 .

[43]  Cristiana Raquel Lages,et al.  The STEP Scale: A Measure of Short-Term Export Performance Improvement , 2004 .

[44]  Luis Filipe Lages.  Export marketing standardisation and its influence on export performance : a structural model examination , 2000 .

[45]  N. Piercy.  British export market selection and pricing , 1981 .

[46]  Shaoming Zou,et al.  The determinants of export performance: a review of the empirical literature between 1987 and 1997 , 1998 .

[47]  M. Saren,et al.  Strategic pricing in export markets: Empirical evidence from the UK , 2000 .

[48]  M. Porter.  Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance , 1985 .

[49]  Stan Reid,et al.  Information acquisition and export entry decisions in small firms , 1984 .

[50]  Karl G. Jöreskog,et al.  Lisrel 8: Structural Equation Modeling With the Simplis Command Language , 1993 .

[51]  George S. Day,et al.  Assessing Advantage: A Framework for Diagnosing Competitive Superiority , 1988 .

[52]  Sandy D. Jap.  Pie-Expansion Efforts: Collaboration Processes in Buyer–Supplier Relationships , 1999 .

[53]  Marios Theodosiou,et al.  Standardization versus adaptation of international marketing strategy: an integrative assessment of the empirical research , 2003 .

[54]  M. Shubik,et al.  A Behavioral Theory of the Firm. , 1964 .

[55]  Kerry L. McLellan,et al.  The Performance Characteristics of Canadian versus U.K. Exporters in Small and Medium Sized Firms , 1993 .

[56]  Sandy D. Jap.  “Pie Sharing” in Complex Collaboration Contexts , 2001 .

[57]  D. B. Montgomery,et al.  Export performance as an antecedent of export commitment and marketing strategy adaptation: Evidence from small and medium‐sized exporters , 2004 .

[58]  F. Manu,et al.  Country-of-Destination and Export Marketing Strategy: , 1995 .

[59]  H. Winklhofer,et al.  Index Construction with Formative Indicators: An Alternative to Scale Development , 2001 .

[60]  Cristiana Raquel Lages,et al.  The Relqual Scale: A Measure of Relationship Quality in Export Market Ventures , 2005 .

[61]  D. Andrus,et al.  Standardization of international marketing strategy by firms from a developing country , 1997 .

[62]  C. Fornell,et al.  Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. , 1981 .

[63]  Implementing a Pan European marketing strategy , 1991 .

[64]  Masaaki Kotabe,et al.  The Effect of Export Assistance Program Usage on Export Performance: A Contingency Explanation , 2001 .

[65]  M. Porter,et al.  HOW MUCH DOES INDUSTRY MATTER , REALLY ? , 1997 .

[66]  Mallika Das.  Successful and Unsuccessful Exporters from Developing Countries: : Some Preliminary Findings , 1994 .

[67]  R. Rumelt.  How much does industry matter , 1991 .

[68]  Phani Tej Adidam,et al.  Antecedents and Consequences of Marketing Strategy Making: A Model and a Test , 1999 .

[69]  S. Reid.  Managerial and firm influences on export behavior , 1983 .

[70]  Dhruv Grewal,et al.  A Model of the Influence of Marketing Objectives on Pricing Strategies in International Countertrade , 1997 .

[71]  A. V. D. Ven,et al.  Central perspectives and debates in organization theory. , 1983 .

[72]  James E. Austin,et al.  Managing in developing countries : strategic analysis and operating techniques , 1990 .

[73]  C. Craig,et al.  Global Marketing Strategy , 1995 .

[74]  J. Denis,et al.  Market Knowledge, Diversification and Export Expansion , 1985 .

[75]  Nigel F. Piercy,et al.  Determinants of export performance in a European context , 1996 .

[76]  Mark A. Huselid,et al.  The Impact of Human Resource Management Practices on Perceptions of Organizational Performance , 1996 .

[77]  I. Fenwick,et al.  Export Performance and Export Policy: Evidence from the U.K. Clothing Industry , 1979 .

[78]  S. Tamer Cavusgil,et al.  Product and Promotion Adaptation in Export Ventures: An Empirical Investigation , 1993 .

[79]  J. H. Steiger.  Tests for comparing elements of a correlation matrix. , 1980 .

[80]  B. Gray.  Profiling Managers to Improve Export Promotion Targeting , 1997 .

[81]  M. Myers.  The pricing of export products: Why aren't managers satisfied with the results? , 1997 .

[82]  Sandy D. Jap,et al.  THE RELATIONSHIP AMONG PAST EXPORT PERFORMANCE, MARKETING MIX ADAPTATION, AND CURRENT EXPORT PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT IN GLOBAL MARKETING RELATIONSHIPS * , 2003 .

[83]  R. P. McDonald,et al.  Structural Equations with Latent Variables , 1989 .

[84]  Franklin R. Root,et al.  Managing Export Entry and Expansion , 1988 .

[85]  L. Cronbach.  Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests , 1951 .

[86]  Leonidas C. Leonidou,et al.  Marketing strategy determinants of export performance: a meta-analysis , 2002 .

[87]  A. Diamantopoulos,et al.  Antecedents and actions of export pricing strategy: A conceptual framework and research propositions , 2002 .

[88]  Increasing the Efficiency of National Export Promotion Programs: The Case of Norwegian Exporters , 1998 .

[89]  Michael R. Czinkota,et al.  Factors Associated with Effective use of Export Assistance , 1994 .

[90]  H. Greve.  Performance, Aspirations, and Risky Organizational Change , 1998 .

[91]  Saeed Samiee,et al.  The Influence of Global Marketing Standardization on Performance , 1992 .

[92]  S. Tamer Cavusgil,et al.  Introducing Products Into Export Markets: Success Factors , 1993 .

[93]  V. Zeithaml,et al.  The Contingency Approach: Its Foundations and Relevance to Theory Building and Research in Marketing , 1988 .

[94]  J. Scott Armstrong,et al.  Estimating nonresponse bias in mail surveys. , 1977 .

[95]  M. Czinkota.  Educator Insights: The Policy Gap in International Marketing , 2000 .

[96]  L. Bourgeois.  Performance and consensus , 1980 .