Gabriella Lojacono

Organizing export strategies.

Abstract This article supports managers in their attempts to organize effective export strategies. Exporting is not just an initial low-commitment internationalization strategy that leads naturally into higher commitment entry modes such as FDI or acquisitions. For many firms, location advantages do not justify foreign direct investments and they therefore decide to service foreign markets from their domestic markets. But despite the relevance of this internationalization mode, there does not seem to be much consolidated knowledge about the organization of successful export strategies. As a result, firms are not just confronted with the choice between export or FDI but with numerous distinct strategic exporting alternatives. The article unfolds as follows: after a brief introduction on the relevance of international trade and the characteristics of export strategies, we describe four distinct export archetypes: (1) export manager, (2) centralistic export developer, (3) export skimmer, (4) integrated export developer. This article concludes with a discussion on the impact different export models have on firm performance.

Exploring Processes and Capabilities in Offshoring Intermediation

The growing offshoring phenomenon has radically transformed the configuration of many industries: fewer rivals, more powerful retailers, transformation of previous manufacturers into marketing companies and emergence of new players. The main driver of offshoring in commodity markets is still today the possibility to benefit from low labour cost. However, cost savings are not enough: the performance of offshoring strategies is determined by outstanding capabilities in product selection, control of suppliers and logistics. This chapter highlights why and how offshoring intermediaries emerged as new players. Using evidence from a case study in small household appliances industry, we describe how intermediating offshoring roles fit with into the global reconfiguration of the value chain.