A Resource-Based Approach to the Study of Export Performance

This paper presents a comparative study of the export performance of U.S. and Canadian small and medium-sized exporters. A parsimonious model is developed drawing on the resource-based theory of the firm, with three sets of resources, namely firm size, enterprise, and technological intensity. These key resources are good predictors of the export strategy of a firm. Export strategy is modeled as degree of internationalization, and its effect on the overall firm performance is studied using firm-level performance measures. LISREL's multiple group analysis feature is used in the analysis to test the model. The results confirm the validity of the model across the two data sets.