Export Performance in SMEs:The Importance of External Knowledge Search Strategies and Absorptive Capacity

External knowledge search strategies are considered essential for increasing export performance, a crucial goal for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in a globalised and turbulent environment. SMEs are known to have limited resources, which leads them to choose the export strategy as the best alte...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Management international review 2019-06, Vol.59 (3), p.413-437
Main Authors: Ferreras-Méndez, José Luis, Fernández-Mesa, Anabel, Alegre, Joaquín
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Absorptive capacity
Business and Management
Business Strategy/Leadership
Collaboration
Emerging Markets/Globalization
Export performance
Exports
Markets
Novels
Operations Management
Organization
Organizational learning
Research Article
Search strategies
Small & medium sized enterprises-SME
Small and medium sized companies
Studies
Trade promotion
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Summary:External knowledge search strategies are considered essential for increasing export performance, a crucial goal for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in a globalised and turbulent environment. SMEs are known to have limited resources, which leads them to choose the export strategy as the best alternative for entering foreign markets. The present study analyses the link between industrial and nonindustrial knowledge search strategies and export performance, taking into account absorptive capacity (AC) as a mediating variable. Results from a sample of 222 Spanish exporting SMEs reveal that orientation to collaborate with industrial partners contributes to firms' AC and export performance. Moreover, AC is found to have a full mediating role between orientation to collaborate with industrial partners and export performance. The study makes a novel contribution by applying organisational learning theory to explain how both the strategies firms adopt to access external knowledge and their absorptive capacity affect their export performance.
ISSN:0938-8249
1861-8901
DOI:10.1007/s11575-019-00379-6