Xinming He

Resource-Based and Institutional Perspectives on Export Channel Selection and Export Performance

Exporting is a critically important strategy for firms to grow, yet research in this area has tended to ignore how firms can leverage resource-based capabilities to improve export performance. Building on the resource-based view and institutional theory, the authors develop a novel perspective to explain how a firm can improve export performance by aligning its export channel with its level of market orientation capabilities, contingent on the institutional distance between home and export markets. Using a unique database of Chinese exporters, the authors find that exporters with strong market orientation capabilities prefer hierarchical export channels, while those with weak market orientation capabilities prefer hybrid channels. The analysis also indicates that the institutional distance between China and the export market moderates this relation. Moreover, the authors find that aligning export channel choice with firm-level market orientation capabilities and institutional distance yields better export performance.

The determinants of export performance: a review of the literature 2006-2014

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to synthesize and evaluate recent studies on determinants of export performance. Design/methodology/approach Using a vote-counting technique this paper reviews 124 papers published between 2006 and 2014 to assess the determinants of export performance. Findings The results indicate that significant progress has been made during these nine years and that: numerous new determinants are identified, data quality and statistical biases have received considerable attention, and interaction and indirect relationships are considered. However, at the same time, the research of export performance is still limited by a lack of synthetic theoretical basis, inconsistent empirical test results, and insufficiency in the research framework and statistical methodologies. Originality/value Export performance has received increasing attention over recent decades, but the area is still characterized by fragmentation and diversity hindering theoretical and practical development. This paper integrates the findings of recent studies on export performance and provides further discussion from both theoretical and methodological aspects, and points out the directions for future research.

Export market location decision and performance

Purpose – Drawing on the resource-based view and network theory, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of external networks (ENs) and absorptive capacity (AC) in export market location decision of emerging economy firms (EEFs) and the performance implication of this decision. Design/methodology/approach – This study employs structural equation modeling to test three hypotheses: first, ENs influence an EEF managers propensity to enter culturally/psychically distant markets for exports. Distant markets are more likely to be chosen by managers of firms with abundant ENs. Second, AC moderates this network-market location relationship. Third, superior performance results from the fit between managers’ propensity to enter a market and firms’ levels of ENs and AC. Findings – An analysis of 196 Chinese exporting firms supports the hypotheses. Research limitations/implications – Though the theoretical discussion is general, the empirical context is specific to Chinese export manufacturers. Replicat...

Examining Chinese postgraduate students’ academic adjustment in the UK higher education sector: a process-based stage model

ABSTRACT The current theories relating to international student transition have largely tended to concentrate on what is to be adapted. This research contributes to the pedagogic literature examining how the transition is made by international postgraduate students. Using data from 20 qualitative in-depth interviews in conjunction with observations of teaching sessions and the researchers’ field notes, we discovered a process-based stage model which identifies a step-by-step approach at a micro-level of academic transition. Our findings extended the prior stage modes to incorporate students’ pre-arrival experience and claim that the pre-departure stage plays a crucial role on Chinese students’ later academic adjustment in the UK. The finding of our four-stage-model helps not only higher education institutions increasing sensitivity to the design of study programmes and induction provision but provides practical implications for recruitment agents that attempt to engage students’ pre-arrival preparations in terms of enhancing their marketing strategy in the long term.

Market orientation and export performance: the moderation of channel and institutional distance

Purpose: Market orientation (MO) has been shown to provide a valuable resource-based advantage in domestic markets. How internationalizing firms from emerging markets can benefit from this capability is more complex while facing institutional distance. This research develops and tests theory to suggest that although MO capabilities can enhance export performance, the structure where they are deployed, namely the export channel a firm uses and the market in terms of institutional distance from home, can affect the benefits derived from MO. Design/methodology/approach: With a sample of Chinese exporters and data collected via questionnaire survey, this research uses a multiple regression model to test the hypotheses. Findings: It finds that firms with stronger MO capabilities can improve export performance by using hierarchical channels and by exporting to more institutionally distant markets where MO provide greater value. Originality/value: This research claims to make several important contributions to the literature by providing a better understanding of how firms can successfully deploy MO capabilities when exporting.

Antecedents, Marketing Capabilities Contingencies and Performance Consequences of Innovative Imitation Orientation: A Resource Orchestration Perspective

Innovative imitation orientation, conceptualized as a multidimensional knowledge reconfiguration process composed of learning for adaptation, strategic direction focused on innovative imitation, and transfunctional support mechanism that encourages flexibility in reverse R&D, has received little attention until recently due to exporting firms’ reluctance to admit to this and to discuss it publicly. Our research identifies three organizational-level attitudinal antecedents (export market openness, export competitive aggressiveness, and export market risk avoidance), which affects innovative imitation orientation. Drawing on the resource orchestration perspective, the authors further propose that the four constituent factors of marketing capabilities (communication, distribution, pricing and product management) interact with innovative imitation orientation to enhance export performance.