Key drivers of SMEs export performance: the mediating effect of competitive advantage

With its focus on the context of small firm internationalization, this paper aims to assess the important contribution of strategic determinants that influence export performance (EP), considering the mediating effect of competitive strategy.,Based on survey data from 247 Portuguese small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) exporting textiles, members of the Portugal’s Textile Association (ATP), this research adopted a quantitative methodological approach, conducting an exploratory and transversal empirical study.,The paper finds suggest that entrepreneurial orientation (EO) has a positive and significant influence on differentiation and EP. Moreover, the results also highlight the role of intangible resources (IR) in the design of both differentiation and cost leadership strategies, which drives EP. Finally, absorptive capabilities (ACAPs) are highly related with EP.,The paper provides empirical evidence that EO, IR and ACAPs are predictors of competitive strategies and EP. Moreover, and alongside with firm’s resources, this study validates that competitive strategy does matters for small firm managers and the development of one type of competitive advantage is also a major performance enhancer.,This study provides fresh insights into entrepreneurship and strategic management literature, as it considers the importance of multiple factors to SMEs business growth. Moreover, this paper presents empirical evidences of the strategies that small firm managers should pursue and policy makers should support. Finally, this is an original study applied to the Portuguese textile industry.

[1]  R. Calantone,et al.  Managing market intelligence: The comparative role of absorptive capacity and market orientation , 2016 .

[2]  J. Barney.  Resource-based theories of competitive advantage: A ten-year retrospective on the resource-based view , 2001 .

[3]  Manuel Expósito-Langa,et al.  International entrepreneurship in SMEs: a study of influencing factors in the textile industry , 2013 .

[4]  Richard Ivey,et al.  THE INTERNATIONALIZATION AND GROWTH OF SMEs , 2002 .

[5]  J. Okpara.  Entrepreneurial Orientation and Export Performance: Evidence from an Emerging Economy , 2009 .

[6]  Scott L. Newbert.  Empirical research on the resource‐based view of the firm: an assessment and suggestions for future research , 2007 .

[7]  Catherine L. Wang,et al.  Dynamic Capabilities: A Review and Research Agenda , 2007 .

[8]  Scott B. MacKenzie,et al.  Common method biases in behavioral research: a critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. , 2003, The Journal of applied psychology.

[9]  V. Wood,et al.  Strategic orientation and export success: an empirical study , 1997 .

[10]  B. Anderson,et al.  The influence of firm age and intangible resources on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and firm growth among Japanese SMEs , 2013 .

[11]  N. Piercy,et al.  Sources of competitive advantage in high performing exporting companies , 1998 .

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

[13]  Véronique Ambrosini,et al.  What are Dynamic Capabilities and are They a Useful Construct in Strategic Management? , 2009 .

[14]  Margaret A. Peteraf.  The cornerstones of competitive advantage: A resource‐based view , 1993 .

[15]  César Camisón,et al.  Knowledge absorptive capacity: New insights for its conceptualization and measurement☆ , 2010 .

[16]  Emily E. Stoll,et al.  Motivations for Success , 2012 .

[17]  M. Frese,et al.  Entrepreneurial Orientation and Business Performance: An Assessment of past Research and Suggestions for the Future , 2009 .

[18]  Goran Roos,et al.  A Strategy Perspective on Intellectual Capital , 2005 .

[19]  Justin Paul,et al.  Exporting challenges of SMEs: A review and future research agenda , 2017 .

[20]  M. Fuchs,et al.  Antecedents and consequences of firm’s export marketing strategy , 2016 .

[21]  D. Hambrick,et al.  What is strategic management, really? Inductive derivation of a consensus definition of the field , 2007 .

[22]  D. Slevin,et al.  Strategic management of small firms in hostile and benign environments , 1989 .

[23]  Neil A. Morgan,et al.  Resource–performance relationships in industrial export ventures: The role of resource inimitability and substitutability , 2006 .

[24]  Marko Sarstedt,et al.  Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM): A useful tool for family business researchers , 2014 .

[25]  S. Zahra,et al.  Contextual influences on the corporate entrepreneurship-performance relationship: A longitudinal analysis , 1995 .

[26]  V. Ambrosini,et al.  How the Resource‐based and the Dynamic Capability Views of the Firm Inform Corporate‐level Strategy , 2003 .

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

[28]  Matthias Fink,et al.  Entrepreneurial Orientation and Business Performance — A Replication Study , 2010 .

[29]  J. Barney.  Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage , 1991 .

[30]  Judy A. Siguaw,et al.  Formative versus Reflective Indicators in Organizational Measure Development: A Comparison and Empirical Illustration , 2006 .

[31]  M. Hart,et al.  Small business performance: business, strategy and owner‐manager characteristics , 2013 .

[32]  R. Hamilton,et al.  Export performance of small firms from small countries: The case of New Zealand , 2014 .

[33]  Dean A. Shepherd,et al.  Where to from Here? EO-as-Experimentation, Failure, and Distribution of Outcomes , 2011 .

[34]  I. Barreto.  Dynamic Capabilities: A Review of Past Research and an Agenda for the Future , 2010 .

[35]  A. Zucchella,et al.  Internationalization and Innovation as Resources for SME Growth in Foreign Markets , 2014 .

[36]  D. Shepherd,et al.  Entrepreneurial Orientation and Small Business Performance: A Configurational Approach , 2005 .

[37]  Shaker A. Zahra,et al.  A Conceptual Model of Entrepreneurship as Firm Behavior: A Critique and Extension , 1993 .

[38]  Sascha Kraus,et al.  Entrepreneurial orientation and SME performance across societal cultures: An international study , 2016 .

[39]  David J. Miller,et al.  The Correlates of Entrepreneurship in Three Types of Firms , 1983 .

[40]  S. Zahra,et al.  International corporate entrepreneurship and firm performance - The moderating effect of international environmental hostility , 2000 .

[41]  Johan Wiklund,et al.  Entrepreneurial orientation and business performance: Cumulative empirical evidence , 2004 .

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

[43]  M. Fernández-Olmos,et al.  Intangible resources, export channel and performance: is there any fit? , 2015 .

[44]  F. Musso,et al.  International strategy for SMEs: criteria for foreign markets and entry modes selection , 2014 .

[45]  M. Hitt,et al.  Direct and Moderating Effects of Human Capital on Strategy and Performance in Professional Service Firms: A Resource-Based Perspective , 2001 .

[46]  Paul W. Beamish,et al.  A Resource‐Based Approach to the Study of Export Performance , 2003 .

[47]  Sascha Kraus,et al.  Entrepreneurial orientation and the business performance of SMEs: a quantitative study from the Netherlands , 2012 .

[48]  D. Teece.  Business Models, Business Strategy and Innovation , 2010 .

[49]  Johan Wiklund.  The Sustainability of the Entrepreneurial Orientation—Performance Relationship , 1999 .

[50]  Keith D. Brouthers,et al.  Key Factors for Successful Export Performance for Small Firms , 2009 .

[51]  S. Zahra,et al.  Absorptive Capacity: A Review, Reconceptualization, and Extension , 2002 .

[52]  Marko Sarstedt,et al.  Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM): An emerging tool in business research , 2014 .

[53]  Kathleen M. Eisenhardt,et al.  DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES, WHAT ARE THEY? , 2000 .

[54]  Gregory G. Dess,et al.  Linking Two Dimensions of Entrepreneurial Orientation to Firm Performance: The Moderating Role of Environment and Industry Life Cycle , 2001 .

[55]  Robert E. Ployhart,et al.  Making Intangibles “Tangible” in Tests of Resource-Based Theory , 2011 .

[56]  J. Johanson,et al.  The Uppsala internationalization process model revisited: From liability of foreignness to liability of outsidership , 2009 .

[57]  F. Martínez-López,et al.  The Determinants of Export Performance: A Review of the Research in the Literature between 1998 and 2005 , 2008 .

[58]  D. Teece,et al.  DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES AND STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT , 1997 .

[59]  Sveinn Vidar Gudmundsson,et al.  Entrepreneurial orientation, firm strategy and small firm performance , 2014 .

[60]  G. Tyge Payne,et al.  Entrepreneurial Orientation and Firm Performance: The Moderating Role of Managerial Power , 2010 .

[61]  M. Porter.  Towards a dynamic theory of strategy , 1991 .

[62]  D. Teece.  Explicating dynamic capabilities: the nature and microfoundations of (sustainable) enterprise performance , 2007 .

[63]  P. Schoemaker,et al.  Strategic assets and organizational rent , 1993 .

[64]  T. Ryley,et al.  Intangible resources of competitive advantage: Analysis of 49 Asian airlines across three business models , 2015 .

[65]  Richard Makadok.  Toward a synthesis of the resource‐based and dynamic‐capability views of rent creation , 2001 .

[66]  David H. Hsu,et al.  Resources as dual sources of advantage: Implications for valuing entrepreneurial‐firm patents , 2013 .

[67]  K. Möller.  Role of competences in creating customer value: A value-creation logic approach , 2006 .

[68]  Aron O'Cass,et al.  The role of intellectual resources, product innovation capability, reputational resources and marketing capability combinations in firm growth , 2014 .

[69]  Nancy L. Cassill,et al.  Niche market strategy for a mature marketplace , 2006 .

[70]  Gregory G. Dess,et al.  Clarifying the Entrepreneurial Orientation Construct and Linking It To Performance , 1996 .

[71]  Stewart Thornhill,et al.  Learning About Failure: Bankruptcy, Firm Age, and the Resource-Based View , 2003, Organ. Sci..

[72]  J. Barney.  Looking inside for competitive advantage , 1995 .

[73]  Tom Connor,et al.  The resource‐based view of strategy and its value to practising managers , 2002 .

[74]  Justin J. P. Jansen,et al.  Managing Potential and Realized Absorptive Capacity: How Do Organizational Antecedents Matter? , 2005 .

[75]  D. Slevin,et al.  A Conceptual Model of Entrepreneurship as Firm Behavior , 1991 .

[76]  Jeffrey A. Cohen.  Intangible Assets: Valuation and Economic Benefit , 2005 .

[77]  A. Soares,et al.  Entrepreneurial orientation and export performance: the mediating effect of organisational resources and dynamic capabilities , 2017 .

[78]  G. T. Lumpkin,et al.  The Role of Entrepreneurial Orientation in Stimulating Effective Corporate Entrepreneurship , 2005 .

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

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

[81]  Gary N. McLean,et al.  Dynamic capability: Impact of process alignment and organizational learning culture on performance , 2010 .

[82]  Daniel A. Levinthal,et al.  ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY: A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON LEARNING AND INNOVATION , 1990 .

[83]  Mior Harris Mior Harun,et al.  Motivators of SME initial export choice and the European Union regional effect in manufacturing , 2017 .

[84]  F. Evangelista,et al.  The influence of experience and deliberate learning on SME export performance , 2016 .