Internationalization, exports, and performance

Export performance research has a long tradition in the international as well as the German business research community. As exporting is a promising avenue for corporate development a lot of emphasis was put on the identification of factors that influence and contribute to export performance. Although research on this topic dates back to the early sixties, it remains a little explored field compared to other internationalization issues. No widely accepted model of export performance is at hand since no consensus on the conceptualization, operationalization, and measurement of the construct of export performance is achieved. Empirical studies on the impact of export performance on overall firm performance show inconsistent results. Tonia Ruppenthal investigates the influence of key variables on export performance (antecedents) as well as the influence of export performance on firm profitability. Thereby, the author contributes to a better understanding on how export leads to an increase of firm performance and advances existing theory in this context. Thus, this book is highly relevant for academic and management practice alike.