Drivers of SMEs’ exporting activity: a review and a research agenda
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic and updated assessment of studies on key exporting stimuli for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and to propose a research agenda on this topic.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors develop a review of empirical articles on SMEs’ exporting stimuli and outline future research directions based on key emerging drivers.
Findings
Research on SMEs’ exporting drivers focuses mainly on human resources’ competences, skills and subjective characteristics and on the role of relevant network actors (customers, intermediaries).
Originality/value
This paper provides an original contribution with regard to updating the framework on export drivers by Leonidou et al. (2007), highlighting an emerging research perspective based on internal/external network dimensions and proposing future research directions on internal individual and organisational actors and on new external network actors.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This paper builds on work done for the European Commission, under our Framework Contract ENTR/2009/033. An earlier version has been the basis of Chapter 3 of the European Competitiveness Report “Helping Firms Grow” (2014) – SWD(2014)277 Final.
Citation
Francioni, B., Pagano, A. and Castellani, D. (2016), "Drivers of SMEs’ exporting activity: a review and a research agenda", Multinational Business Review, Vol. 24 No. 3, pp. 194-215. https://doi.org/10.1108/MBR-06-2016-0023
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited