Setores como o de software requerem organizações aptas a aplicarem suas capacidades tecnológicas. Apesar do fato de a capacidade técnica brasileira do setor ter gerado resultados reconhecidos internacionalmente, os incentivos dados a essa indústria não foram suficientes para permitir que o país atingisse as metas de exportação preestabelecidas. O objetivo deste estudo é verificar o papel que a capacitação tecnológica exerce sobre o desempenho exportador dos produtos e serviços de software. A expectativa inicial era de que o nível de capacitação tecnológica tivesse uma contribuição significativa para a expansão dos negócios internacionais e que fosse positivamente correlacionado a resultados de exportação. Para a análise, foram selecionadas 488 empresas integrantes da indústria brasileira de software, pesquisadas a partir da base de dados da Secretaria de Política de Informática do Ministério da Ciência e Tecnologia (SEPIN/MCT). A correlação entre capacitação tecnológica e desempenho exportador foi observada em aspectos referentes a ações de incentivo à capacitação e contribuição de novos produtos ao faturamento. / Software activities demand organizations that are able to apply their technological capabilities. Despite of the Brazilian technical capability in this field had been internationally recognized by good results, the incentives given to this industry were not enough to allow the country to achieve the export pre-established goals. The aim of this study is to assess the role of technological capability in software - products and services - export performance. The initial expectation was that the technological capability level would feature a meaningful contribution in expanding international business and lead to a positive correlation in export results. For the analysis, 488 companies of the Brazilian software industry were selected from the SEPIN/MCT database. The correlation between technological capability and export performance was observed in aspects related to encouragement incentive procedures and also the contribution of new products to the revenue.

Diplomová práca popisuje exportnú konkurencieschopnosť malých a stredných podnikov v Európskej Únii, faktory ovplyvňujúce ich výkonnosť a rozhodovanie ohľadne exportných aktivít. Použitie relevantnej literatúry a štúdií umožnuje poskytnúť kritický pohľad na danú problematiku. Na konci práce sú navhrnuté odporúčania na zlepšenie a záver.

Transportation and competitiveness practices of hardwood lumber exporters and other firms were studied and compared to determine the most important factors associated with exporting hardwood products. It was found that exporters differed significantly in their transportation methods, marketing activities, and production profiles from those other hardwood lumber firms. They also were significantly larger than expected in their total production and employment. As the forest products business continues to become more global, an analysis of the importance of these factors can be used how firms can begin exporting, or increase sales in international markets. It was found that certain elements of a sawmill's marketing strategy are a major determinant to the likelihood of its being an exporter. Results from logistic regression methods showed that transportation factors such as using intermodal transportation and inland port facilities and competitiveness factors such as species selection, marketing practices, and using government export assistance programs increased the probability of a firm's high involvement in international markets. Finally, data from exporting hardwood sawmills to Mexico, Europe, and Asia were analyzed to determine what makes successful exporting to these markets. Factors including export distribution methods, relationship with export distribution partner, competitiveness, transportation, and export assistance were analyzed. Such information might be useful for government agencies that wish to promote business commitment to sawmills throughout the United States for the following international markets. Hardwood sawmills should be encouraged by state officials to plan more aggressively to enter the Mexico market. Efforts are needed from U.S. trade associations to better identify the Mexican market segments, sources of market demand, and credit opportunities for US sawmills. / Ph. D.

My research attempted to provide the scientific community a more comprehensive understanding in terms of the determinants of China´s export growth. In order to reach this goal, I have divided my research mainly into two major phases. In phase one, I have concentrated on systematically review the Chinese literature, so that an overview of the determinants of China´s export growth from the Chinese academia can be generated. The purpose of phase one is to add valuable Chinese insights regarding China´s export considering the huge number of existing studies in the Chinese academia in the field of export determinants. Since the scarcity of individual level of factor which have influenced China´s export growth has been identified, I have conducted an in-depth qualitative case study in the second phase of my research to shed light on the micro-level mechanism of export decision process. In this way, the individual level determinants of China´s export growth has been explored and presented.

The U.S. hardwood industry has traditionally depended on the domestic demand to sustain levels of production above 14 billion board feet per year. Because of the collapse of the U.S. housing market in 2009 and the economic recession that followed, the industry moved its sight to the international markets, as an opportunity to replace some lost demand, and pursue long term growth. Previous research on international marketing of hardwood products indicates that, there is a growing concern among U.S. companies to understand the main competitiveness factors in key markets such as Asia and Europe. Finding opportunities to add value to U.S. hardwood exports has been the goal of this research project. A case study and survey research were carried out among importers and exporters, whereby it was found that aspects related to price, quality and service, are critical in achieving competitive advantage. This motivated a study in demand and pricing management, which found that these tasks may be subject to innovation through optimization approaches. / Ph. D.

[pt] O fomento à competitividade das firmas nacionais é etapa necessária para a construção de um projeto de desenvolvimento econômico e social sustentável de um país. Além dos benefícios macroeconômicos, há um consenso sobre a capacidade, do ponto de vista microeconômico, de que a atividade exportadora traga diversos benefícios para as firmas engajadas. Como reflexo da crescente integração econômica entre os países, o valor das exportações mundiais aumentou 130 por cento nos últimos dez anos. Neste cenário, o Brasil enfrenta na atualidade desafios complexos quanto à sua inserção externa, ligados a algumas questões centrais. Dentre elas, cabe destaque para a sua pequena participação relativa nas exportações mundiais, principalmente quando comparado à evolução dos demais países que compõem o bloco dos BRIC. Adicionalmente existe uma concentração, em termos de valor, das exportações nacionais em um número pequeno de empresas. Em terceiro lugar, há ainda o debate sobre a composição de sua pauta exportadora, em que a presença de commodities primárias vem aumentando de forma significativa no período recente, com redução de quase 40 por cento de valor dos bens manufaturados, tema especialmente preocupante quando se observa que não há indicações no cenário macroeconômico mundial de que esse ciclo de valorização de commodities se reverterá no curto prazo, de modo que seus impactos sobre as exportações nacionais tendem a persistir. Se já é sabido que todos os fatores desse processo não são controlados pelo governo brasileiro, a literatura registra a importância de que políticas governamentais possam ser influentes no desempenho de exportação das firmas. Neste sentido, assim como quase todos os países desenvolvidos e em desenvolvimento, o Brasil fortaleceu o seu compromisso com a assistência à exportação e desenvolveram programas completos para aumentar a atividade exportadora das firmas nacionais. Considerando que os recursos governamentais são escassos e exigem o máximo de esforços para a melhor eficiência alocativa, a pergunta relevante, e objeto de estudo desta tese, é avaliar qual o impacto sobre o desempenho exportador das empresas brasileiras exportadoras da participação em programas governamentais de apoio à exportação. A estratégia de pesquisa foi baseada na estimação de efeitos causais do tratamento por meio da técnica de propensity score matching (PSM) para os três programas avaliados: o BNDES-Exim, o Drawback e o Proex Financiamento. Trata-se de um método observacional ainda pouco aplicado na área de Negócios Internacionais, feito sobre um desenho quasi-experimental aplicado a determinação da inferência causal, que exige a utilização de grupos de controle e avaliações ex ante e ex post. Como as informações estavam disponíveis para a pesquisadora ao longo do período compreendido entre 2000 e 2007, foi realizada uma abordagem utilizando modelos em painel como forma de capturar efeitos intrínsecos da firma e da evolução temporal. Os resultados evidenciaram que a participação nos programas teve impacto no desempenho exportador das firmas apoiadas, mas que este impacto se manifestou de forma distinta entre os três programas e os diversos indicadores de desempenho exportador investigados. / [en] Fostering the competitiveness of domestic firms is a necessary step towards the construction of a project of economic and social development of a country. In addition to the macroeconomic benefits, there is a consensus of the microeconomic point of view on the ability that the export activity brings many benefits to firms engaged. Reflecting the increasing economic integration between the countries, the value of world exports increased by 130 percent over the last ten decade. In this scenario, Brazil currently faces complex challenges regarding its external insertion, regarding mainly some central issues. Among them, it is worth highlighting its relative small share in world exports, especially when compared to advances in other countries that make up the BRIC bloc. Additionally there is a concentration in terms of value of national exports in a small number of companies. Thirdly, there is an ongoing debate about the composition of Brazil s export basket, in which the presence of primary commodities has increased significantly in recent years, with a reduction of nearly 40 percent in value of manufactured goods. This issue is of particular concern when one considers there are no indications in the global macroeconomic environment that this cycle of commodities valuation should reverse in the short term, so that its impact on exports tend to persist. No matter it is known that all factors of this process cannot be controlled by Brazilian government, literature shows the importance of government policies that may be influential in the export performance of firms. In this sense, as almost all developed and developing countries, Brazil has strengthened its commitment to export assistance and have developed comprehensive programs to increase the export activity of domestic firms. Considering that government resources are scarce and require maximum efforts to better allocative efficiency, the relevant question, and the specific purpose of this dissertation is to evaluate the impact on the export performance of Brazilian exporters from participation in government export assistance programs. The research strategy was based on the estimation of the causal effects of treatment using the technique of propensity score matching (PSM) for the three evaluated programs: BNDES-Exim, Drawback and Proex Financiamento. It is a observational method rarely applied in the field of International Business, built on a quasi-experimental design applied to the determination of causal inference, which requires the use of ex ante and ex post control groups. As data was available to the researcher during the period comprised between 2000 and 2007, panel models were applied in order to capture intrinsic effects of the firm and the temporal evolution. The results showed that participation in the programs had an impact on the export performance of the firms supported, but this impact manifested differently among the three programs and the several indicators of export performance adopted.

[pt] Apresenta-se, neste estudo, uma proposta de modelagem conceitual do construto potencial exportador de pequenas empresas brasileiras. Existem poucos estudos no Brasil sobre as barreiras ou o desempenho exportador de pequenas empresas. Falta um modelo recente que identifique as características que diferenciam exportadores de não exportadores potenciais. O modelo foi desenvolvido com base em uma abordagem teórica baseada em ampla revisão de literatura. O modelo conceitual é composto por três dimensões e 47 indicadores distribuídos em cada uma das dimensões propostas. O modelo conceitual proposto deve ser considerado preliminar e testado empiricamente em futuros estudos. / [en] This study presents a conceptual modeling of the export potential construct of small Brazilian companies. There are few studies in Brazil about the barriers or export performance of small firms. There is no recent model that identifies the characteristics that differentiate exporters from potential non-exporters in the international management literature. This model was developed based on a theoretical approach coming from a large literature review. The model is composed of three dimensions and 47 indicators distributed in each of the proposed dimensions. The proposed conceptual model should be considered preliminary and has to be empirically tested in future studies. Besides the conceptual modeling proposal, this research contributes to unite the seminal internationalization literature with the most recent literature on international entrepreneurship and born globals.

Submitted by Silvana Teresinha Dornelles Studzinski (sstudzinski) on 2015-10-23T15:47:57Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Francisco Sperotto Flores_.pdf: 437036 bytes, checksum: 48604df4848c773fbdbb73cceecc244d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-10-23T15:47:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Francisco Sperotto Flores_.pdf: 437036 bytes, checksum: 48604df4848c773fbdbb73cceecc244d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-03-18 / Nenhuma / O objetivo deste trabalho é avaliar o relacionamento entre a sustentabilidade e o desempenho exportador dos frigoríficos exportadores de carne bovina. Para isso, foi utilizada análise de dados em painel a partir da coleta de dados secundários das exportações de carne bovina in natura fresca ou resfriada, oriundas de diversos países, para os mercados italiano, norte-americano, holandês, francês, mexicano, japonês, alemão e para o Reino Unido, entre os anos de 2002 e 2012, totalizando uma média de 125 observações para cada país importador. A sustentabilidade dos exportadores, foi avaliada através do seu desempenho social, utilizando como proxy o Índice de Desenvolvimento Humano (IDH), e do desempenho ambiental, avaliado a partir da Poupança Líquida Ajustada (ANS). Os resultados obtidos pela análise econométrica demonstram que a dimensão social da sustentabilidade exerce uma influencia positiva sobre o desempenho exportador dos frigoríficos exportadores de carne bovina para alguns mercados, enquanto a dimensão ambiental da sustentabilidade está associada à capacidade de entrada e manutenção destas empresas no mercado internacional da carne bovina. Embora a análise utilize dados em nível de país, visto o nível elevado de concentração na indústria exportadora de carne e, ainda, que a cadeia de valor e o mercado internacional do produto são dominados por um pequeno grupo de grandes empresas com presença global, considera-se que, através da análise do comportamento do comércio entre países, seja possível inferir o comportamento do comércio da commodity em nível de firma. / The purpose of this study is evaluating the relationship between sustainability and the export performance of beef exporters. It is used panel data analysis form the collection of secondary data of exports of fresh or chilled beef with regard to Italy, Dutch, French, Mexican, Japanese, German and the UK between the years 2002 and 2012, totaling an average of 125 observations for each importing country. The sustainability of exporters was evaluated through its social performance, using as proxy the Human Development Index (HDI), and environmental performance, evaluated from the Net Adjusted Savings (ANS). The results obtained by econometric analysis show that the social dimension of sustainability has a positive influence on the export performance of refrigerators exporters of beef, while the environmental dimension of sustainability is associated with the input capacity and maintenance of these companies in the international beef market. Although the analysis uses data at the country level, given the hight concentration level in the meat export industry and also that value chain and the beef international market are dominated by a small group of large companies with global presence, it is considered that, by analyzing the behavior of trade between countries, it is possible to infer the commodity trading behavior at firm level.

L'objectif de cette recherche est d'évaluer l'impact du profil du dirigeant sur le niveau d'OE et l'influence de ce dernier sur la performance-export de la PME dans le contexte togolais. A cet effet, une analyse quantitative par la période de régression logistique auprès de 65 PME exportatrices montre que la vision stratégique, les compétences clés, les traits de personnalité du dirigeant et les caractéristiques de la PME affectent positivement l’orientation entrepreneuriale internationale et la performance-export. Ces résultats ont le mérite de confirmer le modèle conceptuel adapté de Miller/Friesen et celui de Covin/Slevin dans le cadre du Togo. / The objective of this research is to assess the impact of the CEO's profile on the EO level and its influence on the export performance of the SMBs in the togolese context. The results of a quantitative analysis by logistic regression led to 65 exporting SMBs to this purpose, show that the strategic vision, the key competences, the CEO's traits of personality and the SMBs characteristics, are positively related to to the international entrepreneurial orientation (IEO) and to the export performance. These results have the merit of confirming the conceptual model adapted from M/F and the one of C/S within the Togolese framework.

The study of the extent to which incoming FDI results in ‘spillovers’ (technology, R&D, management practices and know-how) has so far yielded only mixed results, and research has largely been restricted to north-north and north-south interactions; this study develops a model of knowledge spillovers based on previous literature and extends inquiry into south-south FDI by investigating spillovers from Chinese FDI to the Cambodian garment and light manufacturing industries. Several significant factors including the nature and extent of FDI linkages, local industry absorptive capacity, nature of the network relationship, and local firms’ learning orientation have been found to influence the extent to which knowledge spillovers occur. These variables are integrated within this paper which develops a conceptual model of knowledge spillovers based on the Awareness-Motivation- Capability framework to examine knowledge spillovers derived through both horizontal and vertical linkages. One area of interest examined in the study is the FDI influence on domestic firms’ export performance since light manufacturing represents the most significant portion of Cambodia's total export products. The thesis, addresses two primary questions: (1) when, where and under what conditions are significant knowledge spillovers created? And (2) what are the effects of the spillovers on domestic companies' technological capability and export performance? The research contributes to the previous literature by further developing the theory on the realisation of knowledge spillovers as well as exploring the nature and channels of knowledge spillovers from South-South FDI in labour-intensive industry, an area of study previously unexplored. Our results show that knowledge spillovers occur through both horizontal and vertical linkages and Cambodian firms receive more spillovers from Chinese FDI than they do from FDI from developed countries.