No description available.

No description available.

Given the increasing interest in international entrepreneurship and an increasing reliance of emerging economies on exporting to reach global markets, an investigation into internationalising firms in emerging economies is vital. Not only do these firms face pressures arising from the liability of smallness, foreignness, and resource limitations, but they also need compensating advantages in order to viably compete on the international stage. This study contributes to the international entrepreneurship literature by analysing the relationship between entrepreneurial intensity and capability, taken as independent variables, and their effect on international performance, taken as a multi-item dependent variable. The study uses a sample of 117 South African exporting firms of any size, industry, and/or age. Furthermore foreign environmental conditions within which these firms operate are measured in terms of their impact/moderation on the relationship between the independent variables and international performance. The study examines entrepreneurial intensity, which is a measure of the level of entrepreneurship in a firm that looks at both the degree and frequency of events with respect to innovativeness, proactiveness and risk-taking. The study also examines three entrepreneurial capabilities – namely social capital, human capital, and technology - that can enhance a firm’s international performance. Performance consists of two dimensions – namely economic performance and export intensity. Export intensity is a proxy of international intensity, measured as a ratio of foreign sales as a percentage of total sales. In this study, the dimensions of social capital that are measured are social interaction, relationship quality and network ties. Social capital is analysed in relationships among firms and their foreign actors/contacts. Social capital is also analysed as a multidimensional asset inside the business relationships comprising of both strong and weak ties, and implemented by the firms with their international partners or contacts. Social interaction and relationship quality corresponds to inter-organisational strong ties whereas network ties correspond to weak ties. iii Human capital consists of three dimensions – namely foreign institutional knowledge, foreign business knowledge, and internationalisation knowledge – based on the conception of foreign market knowledge. The two aspects of technology that are measured are technology distinctiveness and technology acquisition. The study also offers insights into key firm-level factors that influence international performance under foreign environmental conditions characterised by hostility and dynamism. Hypotheses were put forward to be tested in order to facilitate the study. To test the hypothesised bivariate relationship between entrepreneurial intensity and performance, correlation analysis was performed to examine the relationship between the predictors and the performance variables. Similarly, the tests were performed to examine the hypothesised bivariate relationship between entrepreneurial capabilities and performance variables. To test the impact of the environmental moderators on the efficacy of entrepreneurial intensity (EI) and entrepreneurial capability (EC), multiple regression analysis was performed. Overall the results show that EI and EC had a significant effect on both performance measures, with EC predicting stronger than EI. The results showed that different aspects of EI were associated with performance depending on the performance outcomes desired. Frequency of entrepreneurship was related to economic performance whereas entrepreneurial orientation (EO) was related to export intensity. Furthermore EI had a weakening impact under moderating conditions of increasing hostility on both performance measures. Dynamism did not moderate the relationship between EI and performance. EC had a positive impact under all moderating conditions on both performance measures. Social capital played an important role in hostile foreign environments whereas human capital was more important in dynamic foreign environments. In hostile foreign iv business environments, strongly embedded relationships did not provide benefits for advancing business whereas weak ties did. In dynamic foreign environments, internationalisation knowledge (prior internationalisation experience) was associated with both performance variables whereas foreign institutional knowledge (FIK) and foreign business knowledge (FBK) were not found to be important. The overall comparison revealed that in the foreign market environment, entrepreneurial capabilities were more important predictors of performance than entrepreneurial intensity. This suggests that entrepreneurial firms must possess compensating advantages in order to compete viably in unfamiliar markets abroad if they are not strong on innovation, proactiveness, and taking risks. Knowledge-based factors encourage initiative and flexibility among managers to gain influence over vital resources. However the challenge remains for the firms in emerging economies to adopt technology and act entrepreneurially. The results suggest that exporting firms in emerging market countries should pursue an entrepreneurial posture in order to achieve higher export intensity and engage in frequent product, process, and service enhancement activities if the objective is to achieve economic performance. Furthermore, the study found that entrepreneurial capability among South African exporting firms is positively related to performance. The study found that in order to improve their export intensity, human capital and social capital are among the most essential capabilities for organisational perfomance, whereas technology was not. The purpose of this research was to perform an empirical investigation on three main constructs - namely: entrepreneurial intensity, entrepreneurial capabilities, and the environmental dimensions - among South African exporting firms and the relationship of these factors with international performance. This study integrates the role of entrepreneurial intensity and capability in international entrepreneurship and their effects on performance of exporting firms within an emerging market context. v In line with theoretical studies in international entrepreneurship, this study reinforces the strategic role of entrepreneurial capabilities such as social capital and human capital in enhancing international performance. The role of EO and technology acquisition is also acknowledged.

Predicting export performance remains an important issue at the heart of export research and management. This is because of the primary role of exporting to ensuring the profitability, growth and survival of firms. Given these and other benefits that firms stand to gain (and the challenges that firms face) for their active engagement in exporting, scholars have exerted efforts into explaining the causes of export success. Export marketing strategy, firm characteristics, capabilities and firms' orientations towards export markets are some the variables studied. Firms' entrepreneurial orientation towards export markets has been one important variable that has captured the attention of researchers. This study is an attempt to introduce an export context-specific entrepreneurial-oriented behaviour (or export EOB) to the study of antecedents of export performance. A theoretical model involving the relationship between export EOB (and its dimensions) and export performance is, therefore, developed and empirically tested using data from 212 exporting organisations. Findings suggest that firms' overall level of export EOB is a major driver of export success. The study further establishes that a high level of market-oriented behaviour in exporting organisations can help firms to derive stronger benefits from their entrepreneurial activities. At the specific level of the export EOB components, results suggest that development of novel product innovations, high export risk-taking, and strong proactive and competitively aggressive behaviours can help exporting organisations to improve their performance. However, product innovation intensity and autonomy are negatively related to export performance, suggesting that high levels of these two behaviours might lead to poor export performance. Nevertheless, further analysis shows that the negative association between product innovation intensity and export performance becomes positive when moderated by product innovation novelty. In addition, the study shows that autonomy has indirect positive association with export performance through interaction with proactiveness and competitive aggressiveness. In other words, autonomy facilitates the effectiveness of proactive and competitive aggressive behaviours. Further analyses of moderating effect relationships reveal mixed results. Specifically, the study finds that export market orientation positively moderates the link between production innovation intensity and export performance. In addition, export customer dynamism positively moderates the association of product innovation novelty and risk-taking with export performance. On the contrary, export customer dynamism negatively moderates the link between product innovation intensity and export performance. Theoretical, export managerial and policy implications of these findings are discussed and useful areas for future research are proposed.

La littérature récente en commerce international et macroéconomie a souligné le rôle majeur de grandes firmes dans les résultats agrégés d'une économie. Les grandes firmes influencent, inter alia, les fluctuations économiques, les performances à l'exportation et les inégalités de salaires et de coût de la vie. Il est donc crucial de saisir comment les grandes firmes émergent et se comportent. Cette thèse s'intéresse à trois aspects de cette question. Premièrement, j'étudie comment les firmes ajustent la qualité de leurs produits à une intensification de la compétition "low-cost" sur les marchés étrangers. Pour ce faire, je développe une nouvelle méthode d'estimation de la qualité des produits au niveau firme et je trouve que les firmes augmentent leur qualité en réponse à la compétition "low-cost". Deuxièmement, j'examine la manière dont les firmes ajustent leurs ventes lorsqu'un choc de demande (e.g., une récession) frappe une de leurs destinations. Dans le cadre de l'industrie du Champagne durant la récession de 2000-2001, je montre que les firmes ré-allouent leurs ventes vers les marchés dont les conditions de demandes sont plus favorables. Cela suggère un nouveau mécanisme de diffusion internationale des chocs. Finalement, je regarde la manière dont les firmes ajustent leur taille et leur mix de capital et travail lorsque la régulation du travail contraint plus fortement les grandes firmes. Dans le cas du seuil de 50 employés en France, je trouve que les firmes se contractent et substituent du travail au capital pour limiter le coût de la régulation. Au niveau macro, mes résultats suggèrent que la régulation profite aux travailleurs mais pas aux détenteurs de capital. / Recent literature in international economics and macroeconomics has pointed to the major role played by large firms in shaping aggregate economic outcomes. Large firms influence, inter alia, economic fluctuations, performance on export markets and inequalities between workers and between consumers. It is therefore crucial to understand how large firms emerge and behave. In the present thesis, I look at three independent aspects of this question. First, I study how exporting firms adjust the quality of the products they export in response to an intensification of "low-cost" competition in foreign markets. To this end, I develop a new method to estimate the quality of products at the firm-level and I find evidence that firms upgrade quality in response to "low-cost" competition. Second, I investigate the way exporting firms adjust their sales when a demand shock (e.g. an economic recession, a war) occurs in one of their destinations. In the context of the Champagne wine industry during the 2000-2001 economic recession, I show that firms reallocate their sales toward markets where demand conditions are relatively more favorable. Lastly, I look at the way firms adjust their size and their mix of capital and labor in response to labor regulations which are more binding to large firms. I find that firms shrink and substitute capital for labor to mitigate the labor cost of the regulation. At the aggregate level, preliminary results suggests that workers gain from the regulation while capital owners lose.

Cette thèse se compose de trois chapitres ayant en commun la question de la qualité des exportations dans un contexte de pays en voie de développement. La thèse s’intéresse plus particulièrement à différents aspects permettant d’améliorer le niveau de qualité des exportations. Le premier chapitre est consacré à l'impact de l'Aide au commerce (Aid for trade) sur la qualité des exportations des pays récipiendaires. Il suggère un effet positif de la politique d'aide au commerce sur la qualité des exportations. Le deuxième chapitre porte sur le rôle de vérification de la qualité joué par les intermédiaires dans le commerce international. Les résultats indiquent que seuls les intermédiaires spécialisés jouent ce rôle. Le troisième chapitre examine le lien entre l'orientation à l'exportation des entreprises et leur performance en matière d'innovation. L’analyse empirique met en évidence une réduction des investissements en R&D chez les exportateurs dont les ventes s’orientent principalement vers les exportations au détriment du marché intérieur et ce d’autant plus qu’ils font face à une incertitude élevée de la demande. Ces évolutions défavorables pourraient être surmontées néanmoins si l’entreprise a une riche expérience commerciale ou une productivité élevée. Les trois résultats principaux de cette thèse sont ainsi que l'aide au commerce ainsi que l’essor d’intermédiaires de type spécialisé contribuent à la montée en qualité des exportateurs tandis que l'incertitude de la demande extérieure tend à l’inverse à entraver l’innovation des firmes exportatrices. / This thesis is composed of three chapters that have in common the question of export quality in a developing country context. The thesis focuses on different aspects of improving the quality level of exports. The first chapter is devoted to the impact of Aid for Trade on the quality of exports from recipient countries. It suggests a positive effect of Aid for Trade policy on the quality of exports. The second chapter focuses on the quality assurance role played by intermediaries in international trade. The results indicate that only specialized intermediaries play this role. The third chapter examines the link between firms' export orientation and their innovation performance. The empirical analysis shows a reduction in R&D investment by exporters whose sales reorient towards exports to the detriment of the domestic market, especially as they face high demand uncertainty. These unfavourable developments could nevertheless be overcome if the company has a long trade experience or high productivity. The three main results of this thesis are that aid for trade and the rise of specialized intermediaries contribute to the rise in quality of exporters, while the uncertainty of external demand tends, on the other hand, to hinder innovation by exporting firms.