IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/iburev/v9y2000i2p211-235.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A contingency-based approach to understanding export performance

Author

Listed:
  • Robertson, Christopher
  • Chetty, Sylvie K.

Abstract

To date, most export performance studies have focused on providing business practitioners with set 'prescriptions' for export success. However, this approach has resulted in overwhelmingly inconsistent findings, so there is a need for alternative approaches. One alternative is through contingency theory, which posits that each firm's export performance is dependent on the context in which the firm operates. This study therefore uses contingency theory to establish if there is a relationship between export performance and the level of 'fit' between a firm's strategic orientation and its context. This study focused on exporting firms in the apparel industry in New Zealand. Firms were categorised as to whether they were entrepreneurial or conservative in their strategic orientation. The results showed that entrepreneurial firms could operate successfully in hostile or benign external environments, by using either organic or mechanistic export channel structures. But when entrepreneurial and conservative firms have a strategic orientation and channel structure that matches their external environment then there are no real performance advantages for entrepreneurial firms.

Suggested Citation

  • Robertson, Christopher & Chetty, Sylvie K., 2000. "A contingency-based approach to understanding export performance," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 211-235, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:iburev:v:9:y:2000:i:2:p:211-235
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969593199000372
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Harry J. Sapienza & Ken G. Smith & Martin J. Gannon, 1988. "Using Subjective Evaluations of Organizational Performance in Small Business Research," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 12(3), pages 45-54, January.
    2. Danny Miller & Peter H. Friesen, 1982. "Innovation in conservative and entrepreneurial firms: Two models of strategic momentum," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(1), pages 1-25, January.
    3. Susan S. Fiorito & Raymond W. LaForge, 1986. "A Marketing Strategy Analysis of Small Retailers," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 10(4), pages 7-18, April.
    4. John L Naman & Dennis P. Slevin, 1993. "Entrepreneurship and the concept of fit: A model and empirical tests," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 14(2), pages 137-153, February.
    5. Jeffrey G. Covin & Teresa Joyce Covin, 1990. "Competitive Aggressiveness, Environmental Context, and Small Firm Performance," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 14(4), pages 35-50, July.
    6. Warren J Bilkey, 1978. "An Attempted Integration of the Literature on the Export Behavior of Firms," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 9(1), pages 33-46, March.
    7. Stan D Reid, 1981. "The Decision-Maker and Export Entry and Expansion," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 12(2), pages 101-112, June.
    8. Kaynak, Erdener & Kuan, Wellington Kang-yen, 1993. "Environment, strategy, structure, and performance in the context of export activity: An empirical study of Taiwanese manufacturing firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 33-49, May.
    9. W. Alan Randolph & Harry J. Sapienza & Mary Anne Watson, 1991. "Technology-Structure Fit and Performance in Small Businesses: An Examination of the Moderating Effects of Organizational States," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 16(1), pages 27-42, October.
    10. Jeffrey G. Covin & Dennis P. Slevin, 1989. "Strategic management of small firms in hostile and benign environments," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(1), pages 75-87, January.
    11. Jeffrey G. Covin, 1991. "Entrepreneurial Versus Conservative Firms: A Comparison of Strategies and Performance," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 439-462, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Andreas Rauch & Johan Wiklund & G.T. Lumpkin & Michael Frese, 2009. "Entrepreneurial Orientation and Business Performance: An Assessment of past Research and Suggestions for the Future," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 33(3), pages 761-787, May.
    2. Izaias Martins & Felipe Uribe & Diana Mesa, 2012. "Contribución de la orientación emprendedora a la rentabilidad de las pymes: un análisis contingente considerando la función del entorno," Revista Ecos de Economía, Universidad EAFIT, April.
    3. Michael D. Ensley & Allison W. Pearson, 2005. "An Exploratory Comparison of the Behavioral Dynamics of Top Management Teams in Family and Nonfamily New Ventures: Cohesion, Conflict, Potency, and Consensus," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 29(3), pages 267-284, May.
    4. Bradley A. George & Louis Marino, 2011. "The Epistemology of Entrepreneurial Orientation: Conceptual Formation, Modeling, and Operationalization," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 35(5), pages 989-1024, September.
    5. Jeffrey G. Covin & Morgan P. Miles, 1999. "Corporate Entrepreneurship and the Pursuit of Competitive Advantage," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 23(3), pages 47-63, April.
    6. Balabanis, George I. & Katsikea, Eva. S., 2003. "Being an entrepreneurial exporter: does it pay?," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 233-252, April.
    7. Dimitratos, Pavlos & Lioukas, Spyros & Carter, Sara, 2004. "The relationship between entrepreneurship and international performance: the importance of domestic environment," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 19-41, February.
    8. Martins, Izaias & Rialp, Alex, 2013. "Orientación emprendedora, hostilidad del entorno y la rentabilidad de la Pyme: una propuesta de contingencias," Cuadernos de Gestión, Universidad del País Vasco - Instituto de Economía Aplicada a la Empresa (IEAE).
    9. Jantunen, Ari & Nummela, Niina & Puumalainen, Kaisu & Saarenketo, Sami, 2008. "Strategic orientations of born globals--Do they really matter?," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 158-170, March.
    10. Johan Wiklund & Holger Patzelt & Dean Shepherd, 2009. "Building an integrative model of small business growth," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 32(4), pages 351-374, April.
    11. Abiodun Tope Samson, 2015. "The Impact of Entrepreneurial Orientation, Reconfiguring Capability and Moderation of Environmental Turbulence on Export Performance of SMEs in Nigeria," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 7(3), pages 76-87.
    12. Ieda Margarete Oro & Carlos Eduardo Facin Lavarda, 2017. "Interaction Between Strategy and Organizational Performance: The Influence of Family Management," Brazilian Business Review, Fucape Business School, vol. 14(5), pages 493-509, September.
    13. Asif Ali & Ashok Aima & Jaya Bhasin & Robert D. Hisrich, 2021. "Measuring Entrepreneurial Orientation in Developing Economies: Scale Development and Validation," Jindal Journal of Business Research, , vol. 10(2), pages 147-162, December.
    14. Maria de Lurdes Calisto & Soumodip Sarkar, 2017. "Innovation and corporate entrepreneurship in service businesses," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 11(3), pages 581-600, September.
    15. Strobl, Andreas & Bauer, Florian & Matzler, Kurt, 2020. "The impact of industry-wide and target market environmental hostility on entrepreneurial leadership in mergers and acquisitions," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 55(2).
    16. Hernan G. Roxas & Val Lindsay & Nicholas Ashill & Antong Victorio, 2007. "Institutional analysis of strategic choice of micro, small, and medium enterprises : a conceptual framework," Philippine Review of Economics, University of the Philippines School of Economics and Philippine Economic Society, vol. 44(1), pages 151-186, June.
    17. James J. Chrisman & Alan Bauerschmidt & Charles W. Hofer, 1998. "The Determinants of New Venture Performance: An Extended Model," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 23(1), pages 5-29, October.
    18. Lumpkin, G. T. & Dess, Gregory G., 2001. "Linking two dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation to firm performance: The moderating role of environment and industry life cycle," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 429-451, September.
    19. Sandeep Vij & Harpreet Singh Bedi, 2016. "Effect Of Organisational And Environmental Factors On Innovativeness And Business Performance Relationship," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 20(03), pages 1-28, April.
    20. Keonhyeong Lee & Liyuan Wang, 2023. "Chinese High-Tech Export Performance: Effects of Intellectual Capital Mediated by Dynamic and Risk Management Capabilities," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(1), pages 21582440231, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:iburev:v:9:y:2000:i:2:p:211-235. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/133/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.