The export responsiveness of SMEs

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Table of contents

INTRODUCTION
1 The relevance of the research question
1.1 Academic relevance
1.2 Managerial relevance
1.3 Relevance for policy-makers
2 Dissertation structure
PART I. LITERATURE REVIEW
CHAPTER I. THE IMPACT OF EXPORT INFORMATION UPON THE INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE OF SMEs. EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE
I.1 Defining exporting SMEs
I.1.1 SMEs’ specificities
I.2 The empirical evidence concerning the link between export information and international performance
I.2.1 The scope of the review
I.2.2 Characteristics of the studies under review
I.2.3 The opperationalization of the main constructs of the study: export information-related constructs and international performance
I.2.3.1 International performance measurement
I.2.3.2 Export information study and measurement
I.2.3.2.1 The operationalization of the most widely used measures for capturing information related activities
I.2.3.2.2 Proposing a classification of the different export information related measures
I.2.3.2.3 Taxonomies of export information acquisition and use
I.2.4 The link between international performance and export information
I.2.4.1 The relationship between export information sources (acquisition and use) and international performance
I.2.4.1.1 The relationship between export assistance and international performance
I.2.4.1.2 The relationship between export market research and international performance
I.2.4.1.3 The relationship between export market intelligence and international performance
I.2.4.2 The relationships between other measures used to capture export information related behaviors and international performance.
I.2.4.3 The relationship between the acquisition of different information elements on foreign markets and international performance
I.2.4.4 The studies examining the indirect relationship between information acquisition, its use and international performance
I.2.5 Discussion
I.2.5.1 Methodological shortcomings and future research avenues
I.2.5.2 Theoretical shortcomings and future research avenues
I.2.5.3 Operationalization shortcomings and future research avenues
I.2.5.3.1 Shortcomings in terms of international performance operationalization
I.2.5.3.2 Shortcomings in terms of export information acquisition and use opperationalization
I.2.5.3.3 Shortcomings of the study of the relationship between the behaviors in terms of export information acquisition and use and international performance
CHAPTER II. A SYNTHESIS OF THE MAIN THEORETICAL ADVANCES DESCRIBING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INFORMATION AND PERFORMANCE
II.1 Defining information
II.1.1 Syntactic and semantic aspects of information
II.1.2 The distinction between information and knowledge
II. 2 The main theoretical frameworks explaining the link between information and organizational performance
II.2.1 Contingency theory
II.2.2 Decision-making theory
II.2.3 Resource based view of the firm
II.2.4 Entrepreneurial theoretical advances
II.2.5 Organizational learning theory
II.2.6 Market orientation theoretical advances
II.2.6.1 The two conceptualizations of organizational market orientation
II.2.6.2 From market orientation to market-based learning
II.2.6.3 Market orientation theoretical advances
II.3 Critical analysis of the theoretical frameworks explaining the link between information and organizational performance
II.3.1 Converging aspects of the theoretical frameworks reviewed
II.3.1.1 Information quality or richness
II.3.1.2 The organizational mechanisms necessary to improve information dissemination within organizations
II.3.2 Diverging aspects of the five theoretical frameworks reviewed
II.3.2.1 Main focus, organization’s conceptualization and organizational performance sources
II.3.2.2 The different theses proposed on the relationship between information and organizational performance
II.3.3 Critical analysis of the theoretical frameworks reviewed
II.3.3.1 Towards an integrative theoretical framework over the impact of information activities on organizational performance
II.3.3.2 Absorptive capacity, a suitable perspective for looking at the relationship between information activities and organizational performance
II.4 Absorptive capacity: a dynamic capability enhancing organizational performance
II.4.1 Potential and realized absorptive capacity and their link to organizational performance
CHAPTER III. THE RESEARCH MODEL DEVELOPMENT
III.1 The impact of PACAP’s antecedents on the Potential Absorptive CAPacity (PACAP)
III.1.1 The conceptualization of PACAP’s antecedents and PACAP
III.1.1.1 PACAP’s antecedents conceptualization
III.1.1.1.1 The exposure to rich export information sources
III.1.1.1.2 The previous international experiences of the firm
III.1.1.2 PACAP conceptualization
III.1.1.2.1 Export information acquisition dimension
III.1.1.2.2 Export information assimilation dimension
III.1.3 The impact of PACAP’s antecedents upon PACAP development
III.1.3.1 The impact of SMEs’ exposure to rich export information sources on export information acquisition
III.1.3.2 The impact of SMEs’ international experiences richness on export information acquisition
III.2 The impact of PACAP on RACAP (Realized Absorptive CAPacity) development
III.2.1 RACAP conceptualization
III.2.1.1 Conceptualization of the transformation dimension of RACAP: the export responsiveness of SMEs
III.2.2.2 Conceptualization of the exploitation dimension of RACAP: the competitive advantage in terms of international marketing competences of SMEs
III.2.2 The influence of PACAP on RACAP
III.2.2.1 The impact of PACAP on the transformation dimension of RACAP
III.2.2.1.1 The impact of the export information acquisition on the export responsiveness of SMEs
III.2.2.1.2 The impact of the information assimilation on the export responsiveness of SMEs
III.2.2.2 The impact of SMEs’ international experiences and export responsiveness on the exploitation dimension of RACAP
III.2.2.2.1 The impact of the international experiences of SMEs
III.2.2.2.2 The impact of the export responsiveness of SMEs
III.3 The impact of RACAP on the international performance of SMEs
III.3.1 The impact of RACAP’s transformation dimension
III.3.2 The impact of RACAP’s exploitation dimension
CHAPTER IV. CONSTRUCTS OPERATIONALIZATION
IV.1 The antecedents of PACAP
IV.1.1 Operationalization of the exposure to information sources
IV.1.2 Operationalization of the experiential dimension
IV.2 PACAP dimensions
IV.2.1 Operationalization of the information acquisition dimension
IV.2.2 Operationalization of the information assimilation dimension
IV.3 RACAP dimensions
IV.3.1 Operationalization of the transformation dimension of RACAP
IV.3.2 Operationalization of the exploitation dimension of RACAP
IV.4 The dependent construct: the international performance of SMEs
IV.5 Operationalization of the control variables
CHAPTER V. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
V.1 The level of analysis: the firm
V.2 The results of the preliminary qualitative research
V.2.1 Results of the interviews realized with the Romanian enterprises
V.2.1.1 Export information acquisition
V.2.1.1.1 Information sources consulted on foreign markets
V.2.1.1.2 Export information elements acquired on foreign markets
V.2.1.2 Export information use
V.2.1.3 The factors enhancing export information exploitation (managerial perspective)
V.2.1.4 The practices enhancing export information use within firms
V.2.1.5 Proposition of a classification of Romanian enterprises based on their international experience
V.2.1.6 Other aspects
V.2.2 Results of the interviews realized with the French enterprises
V.2.2.1 Export information acquisition
V.2.2.1.1 Information sources consulted on foreign markets
V.2.2.1.2 Export information elements acquired on foreign markets
V.2.2.2 Export information use
V.2.2.3 The factors enhancing export information exploitation (managerial perception)
V.2.2.4 The practices enhancing information use within firms
V.2.2.5 Other aspects
V.2.3 General conclusions relative to the export information management by exporting companies from France and Romania. A comparative analysis
V.2.3.1 Export information acquisition
V.2.3.2 Export information use
V.2.3.3 The factors enhancing export information exploitation (managerial perspective)
V.2.3.4 The practices enhancing export information assimilation within firms
V.2.3.5 Other aspects
V.2.3.6 General conclusions impacting the research design
V.3 Questionnaire development
V.3.1 The “qualitative” questionnaire pre-test
V.3.2 The “quantitative” pre-test of the knowledge transfer and integration scale
CHAPTER VI. QUESTIONNAIRE ADMINISTRATION AND DESCRIPTIVE RESULTS
VI.1 Questionnaire administration
VI.2 Descriptive analysis of the results
VI.2.1 Sample description
VI.2.2 PACAP’s antecedents
VI.2.2.1 International experiences
VI.2.2.2 Export information sources richness
VI.2.3 PACAP levels
VI.2.3.1 Export information acquisition
VI.2.3.2 Assimilation practices
VI.2.4 RACAP levels
VI.2.4.1 Export responsiveness
VI.2.4.2 The positional advantage in terms of international marketing competences
VI.2.4 The levels of international performance
VI.2.5 The control variables
VI.2.6 Synthesis of the descriptive analysis
VI.3 Measurement model validation
VI.3.1 The psychometrical properties of the dependent variable: the international performance of SMEs
VI.3.2 Outer model estimation
CHAPTER VII. RESEARCH PROPOSITIONS’ TEST, CONCLUSIONS, LIMITATIONS, IMPLICATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH AVENUES
VII.1 Research propositions’ test, results, discussion
VII.1.1 The impact of PACAP’s antecedents on PACAP
VII.1.1.1 The impact of the richness of export information sources upon export information acquisition
VII.1.1.2 The impact of the international experiences of SMEs upon export information acquisition
VII.1.1.3 Synthesis of the results of the research propositions concerning the impact of PACAP’s antecedents upon PACAP levels of SMEs
VII.1.2 The impact of PACAP on RACAP
VII.1.2.1 The impact of the determinants of the transformation dimension of RACAP (SMEs’ export responsiveness capacity)
VII.1.2.1.1 The impact of export information acquisition
VII.1.2.1.2 The impact of export information assimilation
VII.1.2.1.3 Synthesis of the results of the research propositions concerning the impact of PACAP upon RACAP’s transformation dimension
VII.1.2.2 The impact of the determinants of the exploitation dimension of RACAP (the positional advantage in terms of international marketing competences of SMEs)
VII.1.2.2.1 The impact of the SMEs’ international experiences
VII.1.2.2.2 The impact of the SMEs’ responsiveness capacity
VII.1.2.2.3 Synthesis of the results of the impact of the determinants of RACAP’s exploitation dimension
VII.1.3 The impact of RACAP on SMEs’ international performance
VII.1.4 Global evaluation of the research model
VII. 2 Conclusions, limits, research contributions and avenues for future research
VII.2.1 The main objectives, main theoretical and methodological choices of the current research
VII.2.2 Synthesis of the results
VII.2.3 Research contributions and implications
VII.2.3.1 Theoretical contributions and implications
VII.2.3.2 Methodological contributions and implications
VII.2.3.3 Research contributions and implications for managers
VII.2.3.4 Research contributions and implications for policy makers
VII.2.4 Limits and future research avenues
VII.2.4.1 Theoretical limits and prolongations
VII.2.4.2 Methodological limits and prolongations
VII.2.4.2 Limits and prolongations related to the results of the research
BIBLIOGRAPHY