Thesis (doctoral)--Göteborgs universitet, 2003. / Extra t.p. with thesis statement inserted. Includes bibliographical references.

A B S T R A C T Deregulation of the South African fruit export industry in 1997 caused fragmentation in the supply chain. This led to significant inefficiencies and difficulty in responding to increasingly stringent legal and traderelated traceability requirements. Currently, the South African fruit export industry does not provide a sufficient level of traceability at supply chain level. The consumer packaged goods industry has developed e-commerce building blocks based on global standards. These building blocks offer automated traceability of fruit exports, as well as significant benefits impacting the bottom line, to companies of all sizes. The e-commerce building blocks also provide solutions to the two main challenges faced by the fresh produce supply chains, namely traceability requirements and the need for additional efficiencies. The e-commerce building blocks are available to the South African fruit export industry to enable traceability, as well as to provide significant efficiency benefits. It has been found that early adoption of the e-commerce building blocks will result in a strategic advantage over the southern hemisphere competitors and that automated traceability is feasible for the South African fruit export industry. This article describes the cohesiveness, willingness to participate and supportive thinking of representatives from the important fruit export industry in South Africa, which are necessary to create the critical mass for the implementation of such an automated traceability system.

published_or_final_version / Economics / Master / Master of Arts

The purpose of this paper is to investigate and analyze the importance of networking and relationships in the music industry. We also want to see whether these factors have any impact on the Swedish music exports. These musings have led to the formulation of the following question;   -          How can the musiclabels in the music industry make use of networks and relationships to strengthen the Swedish music exports to the U.S. and make it more efficient?   The essay is written with a qualitative method with an abductive perspective. That’s because our research question has demanded that we get a deeper view of the subject to be able to answer it. The empirical data is collected through telephone or email interviews. Our interviews have been implemented with people who have the knowledge about and are well versed in the industry.   From the theoretical and empirical analysis, some patterns have emerged. The results show that relationships are very important for the various actors in the music industry and most relationships are based on friendships that go back way in time. The networks that exist are informal, but we would like to point out that there are formal networks, in the form of interest- and membership-organizations. Musiksverige that will be presented in the text further on and has a prominent role in this paper is an example of one of those organizations. Trust and commitment is important in the music industry and that is why we belive the actors usually choose to form businessrelationships with old friends or family. Throughout the research we have found that the industry would benefit from a more transparent and structured collaboration, but they are required to communicate with each other and not just to different organizations. A more developed co-opetition would also make the industry more efficient.

No description available.

Magistro darbe yra išanalizuotos ir įvertintos Lietuvos eksporto plėtros galimybės 2004 – 2008 metų laikotarpiui. Sukaupta, susisteminta ir apibendrinta įvairių Lietuvos ir užsienio autorių mokslinė literatūra, siekiant išsiaiškinti tarptautinės prekybos sampratą, eksporto įtaką Lietuvos ekonomikai, Lietuvos ekonominės politikos poveikį eksportui. Pateikiama eksporto nauda Lietuvai ir įvertinti veiksniai, įtakojantys eksporto pokyčius. Atlikta Lietuvos eksporto dinamikos analizė pagal šalis bei prekių grupes bei įvertinti užsienio prekybos pokyčiai, Lietuvai tapus Europos Sąjungos nare. Išanalizuotos lietuviškos kilmės prekių eksporto galimybės. Patvirtinta suformuluota hipotezė, kad lietuviška produkcija turi perspektyvą įsitvirtinti užsienio rinkoje. / The Master‘s Paper analyses and assesses the export expansion possibilities in Lithuania in 2004 – 2008. Scientific literature of various Lithuanian and foreign authors has been collected, systemized and summarized in order to identify the concept of international trading, impact of export on the economy of Lithuania, impact of Lithuanian economical politics to the export. The benefit of export to Lithuania has been described and the factors impacting the changes of export have been assessed. Analysis of Lithuanian export dynamics was performed by countries and groups of the goods and changes of foreign trading have been assessed after Lithuania became the member of the European Union. The export possibilities for the goods of Lithuanian origin have been analyzed. The formulated hypothesis that the Lithuanian products have a perspective to strengthen a position in the foreign market has been approved.

No description available.

This study investigates successful small Canadian firms that export. Four factors are considered from a theoretical perspective as variables that have affected the success of these firms. Regimes define the international and national environment. State support is studied as a strategic factor at the domestic level. Networks are considered as both strategic and organizational factors at the firm level. The study of internal factors considers organizational capability and strategy at the firm level. / The empirical research was conducted through field studies and a questionnaire that was completed during an in-depth interview with the president, founder or principal officer of 21 firms in the cross-sectional sample (in Ontario and Quebec) and telephone interviews for the 13 firms in the supplementary sample (in Nova Scotia and British Columbia). All interviews in Ontario and Quebec were videotaped and case records were developed for each firm. Additional data are based on information from the Industry, Science, Technology (Canada) data bank and the researcher's observations of principal actors and operations of the sample firms. / A Technological Skill and Product Maturity Typology is developed to categorize firms into quadrants according to product maturity and technological sophistication. The typology has been designed as an analytical tool to categorize firms according to strategic focus. This typology provides a framework for the analysis of firm needs and for the evaluation of the usage and effectiveness of support programs by firms. / This study offers a typology for classifying firms by start-up mode: the entrepreneur with a classic start-up, with a spin-off, with an acquisition, and with experience in an established firm. Mode of start-up was not significantly associated with specific strategic sectors. Results suggest that the qualities of the entrepreneur responsible for successful start-up are imprinted on successful small firms. This entrepreneurism provides significant strategic advantage for firms competing in international markets. / The results of this study indicate that small firms in diverse industries, with very different products and strategic advantages can use entrepreneurial leadership, strategy, and innovation to take advantage of changing international regimes, favourable domestic factor conditions, and state support to compete successfully in international markets.(Abstract shortened by UMI.)

International marketing has become important to firms of all sizes due to factors such as the continued lowering and elimination of trade barriers, increasing regional integration, improvements in communication and transportation, and an overall increase in world trade. Not only has the international marketplace become more turbulent but globalisation of world markets has become competitively more intense. Because of these trends, the formulation of effective international marketing strategies has become more important. Moreover, firms need to get a better understanding of the relationship between international marketing strategies and international performance, as the international market is becoming more competitive. The primary objective of the research study was to determine the relationship between international marketing strategies and international/export marketing performance of South African manufacturing firms, as well as the role of internal and external determinants with regard to international marketing strategy and international/export marketing performance. The research study intended to determine whether these different independent variables had a significant impact on the dependent variable, namely, international/export performance. The findings of this research study indicated that firm size, investment commitment and that management engages in careful planning as firm characteristics had a significant influence on export/international marketing performance. The finding on the relationship between export experience and export performance was insignificant. Firm characteristics can have both a direct or indirect affect on the export marketing performance of the firm. Therefore, given the secondary research objective - to determine how firm characteristics influence choice of international marketing strategies, and consequently export marketing performance - the following were the important findings of the influence of firm characteristics on international marketing strategies. There were no significant findings between firm characteristics and product adaptation, or firm characteristics and promotion adaptation. However, firm size and firm competencies had a significant relationship with distributor/subsidiary support. It can be assumed that the larger the firm, the more resources the firm have to support distributors and subsidiaries. Furthermore the finding between firm size and the degree of pricing adaptation was also significant indicating that the larger the firm, the more willing the firm is to adapt pricing. The nature and characteristics of the export market can either serve as a barrier or a driving force that facilitate internationalisation. These barriers and/or driving forces can also influence the nature of the international marketing mix strategies that are employed by firms. The barriers and/or driving forces can have both direct and indirect effects on export marketing performance. The competitive intensity of the export markets had a significant relationship with export performance. Furthermore, it had the most significant relationship with export performance compared to all the other independent variables and the relationship was also negative, meaning that the export performances of firms were negatively affected with increased competitive activity. However, given the secondary research objective - to determine how export/ international marketing characteristics influence the choice of international marketing strategies, and consequently export marketing performance - the following relationships were identified. Competitive intensity had a significant relationship with the degree of product adaptation and export market characteristics with the degree of promotion adaptation. Both competitive intensity and export market characteristics had a significant relationship with both the degree of distributor/subsidiary support and the degree of pricing adaptation. Export market characteristics equate to export market barriers, and what the above implies is that with more export market barriers, firms tend to adapt distributor/subsidiary support and pricing more. With regard to the degree of adaptation to marketing mix strategies it was found that the degree of pricing adaptation had a significant effect on export/international marketing performance. There was a significant relationship between the degree of product adaptation and export/international marketing performance. However, this relationship was negative, in that the greater the degree of product adaptation, the more negative the performance. One would have expected that the greater the degree of product adaptation, the greater the export/international marketing performance. A non-significant relationship was found between the degree of promotion adaptation and export/international marketing performance. The relationship between the degree of distributor/subsidiary and export performance was also non-significant. Although the study came up with important findings, it once again highlighted the inconsistency of findings in the export/international marketing literature. Furthermore, given the increasingly competitive nature of international markets, it is more important for firms to identify the success factors in their particular industries that could contribute to greater export/international marketing performance than to assume that all international markets and industries require similar strategies. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

This thesis studies the business performance of Thai firms in both domestic and export markets by using the market orientation theoretical framework to explain why some firms are more successful than others. It also investigates how firms become more market-oriented and whether the relationship between market orientation and business performance is moderated by business environment.