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The purpose of this paper was to examine the intervening role of export-related resources in the relationship between export assistance (EA) and export performance (EP) as well as the role of competitive intensity as a driver for the adoption of EA programmes by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The proposed model was tested on the sample of 119 SMEs that export from the Republic of Serbia. The data were gathered through an online survey. In order to test the hypotheses, partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used.

The results revealed that export-related resources (intellectual, relational and managerial resources) fully mediate the relationship between EA and EP. It was shown that competitive intensity in export markets had a positive effect on the amount of EA that SMEs receive from the government, EU and other organisations.

The number of firms that participated in the survey is small. Furthermore, the responses may be biased due to the auto-selection of SMEs. The research included only SMEs from different manufacturing industries. Thus, the implications of the research cannot be applied to the service sector.

The findings of the conducted research are relevant for the managers of SMEs since they show the importance of using EA as an external resource. The use of EA improves EP through the enhancement of intellectual, relational and managerial resources. The results of this study also support further government investment in EA as it was found that EA is an effective tool for the improvement of EP of SMEs.

The effect of EA on EP was tested in Serbia, the research context in which this effect was not tested before. Besides, the proposed model gives insights into the factors that affect engagement in EA programmes, which is a topic rarely examined in the literature.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate if intellectual capital (IC) has an impact on organizational performance as well as to identify the IC components that may be the drivers of the traditional indicators of business success. The study sought evidence from the multinational companies which conduct their business in Serbia.

By using data from 37 multinational companies which established their business in Serbia from 2006 to 2008 and applying the VAIC methodology for generating independent variables which reflect IC, regression models were constructed to examine the relationships between the efficient use of MNCs' human and structural capital and corporate performance measures: return on assets, return on equity and productivity.

The results of this study reveal that human capital is positively associated with all three corporate performance measures. The hypothesis regarding a positive association between structural capital and MNCs' profitability and productivity has been confirmed only partially since the results indicate that the structural capital variable shows a statistically significant and positive relationship only with the performance measure ‐ return on equity.

This is the first empirical study conducted in Serbia testing the relationship between IC and organizational performance. It contributes to the existing IC literature by giving new insights into the IC of MNCs' subsidiaries established in Serbia and its relationship with their business performance.