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The purpose of this paper is to investigate of the ultra‐wide band (UWB) characteristics of a conical antenna covered by an electromagnetic band‐gap (EBG) structure composed of alternating high‐ and low‐permittivity dielectric spherical shells.

A finite difference time domain in spherical coordinates is implemented in order to characterize the antenna's performance and waveform fidelity in case an UWB pulse is used. The method of projected effective permittivity is used in order to treat accurately the dielectric interfaces between the dissimilar spherical shells.

The design achieves a very wide impedance bandwidth above 5.5 GHz and presents UWB radiation characteristics and high average gain over the whole bandwidth. The radiation patterns are monopole‐like and their frequency dependence is small in the whole UWB frequency band. A time domain study has shown that the antenna distorts the excitation pulse in a moderate way.

In this paper, a quasi‐planar wideband conical antenna coated on a dielectric EBG structure is proposed for what is believed to be the first time. It is mechanically stable and, relatively easy to build and integrate with the planar circuits.

With its focus on the context of small firm internationalization, this paper aims to assess the important contribution of strategic determinants that influence export performance (EP), considering the mediating effect of competitive strategy.

Based on survey data from 247 Portuguese small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) exporting textiles, members of the Portugal’s Textile Association (ATP), this research adopted a quantitative methodological approach, conducting an exploratory and transversal empirical study.

The paper finds suggest that entrepreneurial orientation (EO) has a positive and significant influence on differentiation and EP. Moreover, the results also highlight the role of intangible resources (IR) in the design of both differentiation and cost leadership strategies, which drives EP. Finally, absorptive capabilities (ACAPs) are highly related with EP.

The paper provides empirical evidence that EO, IR and ACAPs are predictors of competitive strategies and EP. Moreover, and alongside with firm’s resources, this study validates that competitive strategy does matters for small firm managers and the development of one type of competitive advantage is also a major performance enhancer.

This study provides fresh insights into entrepreneurship and strategic management literature, as it considers the importance of multiple factors to SMEs business growth. Moreover, this paper presents empirical evidences of the strategies that small firm managers should pursue and policy makers should support. Finally, this is an original study applied to the Portuguese textile industry.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the influence of intangible resources on export performance, considering the mediating effect of absorptive capabilities and innovation.

The authors use a quantitative research approach by conducting a quantitative study based on survey data from 247 Portuguese small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from the textile industry.

Findings suggest that: Intangible resources has a positive, significant and direct influence on absorptive capabilities and on export performance; intangible resources has not a significant and direct influence on innovation and on the opposite direction absorptive capabilities has a positive, significant and direct influence on it; innovation has a positive, significant and direct influence on export performance, contrary to absorptive capabilities that has not a significant and direct influence; and innovation has a mediating effect on the relationship between intangible resources and export performance, and the same does not happens on the relationship between absorptive capabilities and export performance.

This paper presents further evidences of the strategies that textile industry’s small firm managers should pursue, and policymakers should promote within the scope of the strategies associated to the system of tax benefits under negotiation for Portugal 2030.

While previous authors have attempted to analyse certain aspects of this process (connection between intangible resources and export performance), this research developed a framework that combines these ones with the mediating effect of absorptive capabilities and innovation. This study deepens our understanding and provides novel insights into strategic management and innovation literature, since it combines multiple factors and has obtained the importance of each construct in SMEs business growth.

The purpose of this paper is to examine to what extent, and in what ways, various types of bank support improve small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) export performance. It contributes to bank marketing and international marketing theory and practice by clarifying bank contributions to SME export performance at the firm level.

The study method is an on-site survey, encompassing 135 manufacturing Swedish SMEs. Five hypotheses are tested using ordinary least squares regression.

The higher the export performance, the greater the importance attributed to bank funding of international business. The importance of transaction and/or currency services provided by banks for SMEs’ ability to do business abroad was confirmed, but with the important limitation that the effect diminishes as the number of markets increases. Furthermore, the results indicate that SMEs with low export performance attach a high importance to the advisory services that banks can offer regarding international business. No significant results for knowledge sharing or support from bank contacts were found.

SME managers are encouraged to view banks as potential providers of a diverse set of value-added resources while taking into consideration that some banks will have more developed resources and support policies than others. The study results also assist banks in building effective strategies for enhancing their relationships with SME clients, as it provides detailed information on how SMEs relate different kinds of bank services to their export performance.

As the first paper to describe SME-perceived relationships between different bank services and export performance, this study informs bank marketing and international marketing theory about bank contributions to SME internationalisation.