Export performance in developing countries

What makes an exporting enterprise a success or failure in a developing environment? This is the broad question which this empirical study seeks to answer. A theoretical model seeking to establish the relationship between export performance and a number of explanatory variables is developed. Data for the empirical study were obtained from personal interviews with managers of fifty-one firms in Tanzania. The study makes four main contributions to our understanding of export causal relationships. The findings are both at variance and in conformity with existing theory which is based mainly on findings from advanced countries: 1. The findings are different because only a few of the factors which were derived from the literature on advanced countries, are tied significantly to export performance. 2. Although many of the factors are not statistically significant, the trends are to some degree, consistent with literature from advanced countries. This implies that factors affecting export performance may be universal. 3. The findings are also different in another way by demonstrating that despite the universality of export determining factors, contrary to observations in advanced countries, environmental factors played a larger role in export perforrnance than factors subject to managerial control. 4. Finally, in the light of the findings, future researchers are advised that in developing environments, studies which focus on measuring the impact of environmental variables on performance may be more revealing than those which focus on factors subject to managerial control. This book will be of particular use to students of business, public policy-makers, business executives and consultants in a changing business environment like the East European one.