ARE NATIONAL EXPORT PROMOTION PROGRAMMES OF ANY REAL VALUE TO ACCELERATED INTERNATIONALISATION?

This empirical study examines the impact of national export promotion policies (NEPPS) on rapidly internationalising firms (RIF) originating from a buyer-driven industry in a least-developed country. The internationalisation... [ view full abstract ]

This empirical study examines the impact of national export promotion policies (NEPPS) on rapidly internationalising firms (RIF) originating from a buyer-driven industry in a least-developed country. The internationalisation of firms from inception or shortly thereafter characterises RIF and the adoption of such a rapid internationalisation strategy raises questions about the tenets of conventional theories of internationalisation. Therefore, the past two decades have witnessed abundant scholarly endeavours to identify the antecedents, determinants and business strategies of RIF with a focus on high-tech or knowledge-intensive small and medium-sized enterprises in developed and advanced-emerging countries. Nonetheless an overview of literature suggests that findings concerning RIF are not yet comprehensive since there is a limited consideration of how such firms emerge and perform from countries that are at different levels of economic maturity. In most of prior studies, developed countries were used as research contexts and in recent years, a few studies have drawn samples from advanced-emerging economies. However, there is a paucity of research on RIF from other contextual settings and particularly so in the context of least-developed countries. This shortfall is significant since evidence suggests that firms from some least-developed countries are engaged in international business and contribute considerably to world trade. In addition to this shortcoming, a review of the literature suggests that the impact of NEPPS as a key regulatory factor on RIF is scarce. Therefore, building upon the institutional-based view this study intends to unravel the relationship between NEPPS and RIF in the context of a buyer-driven industry in a least-developed country. To address the identified knowledge gap, we engage in quantitative analysis using data drawn from the Bangladeshi apparel industry.

The findings of this study confirm that RIF originating from a buyer-driven industry in a least-developed country are influenced by the exploitation of market-development related NEPPS. However, the results do not confirm any significant effects from finance and guarantee-related export promotion support measures. As far as control variables i.e., firm size, firm age and relationship with national export promotion bureau are concerned, none of these are found to significantly affect RIF. The study findings are evaluated in the light of the extant literature and several explanations are derived as to why some findings diverge from the established literature on developed and advanced-emerging countries.

The contributions of this study are manifold. The first and foremost contribution of this study is the development and testing of a RIF emergence model in the context of a least-developed country. The inclusion of an under-represented context viz. Bangladesh as a least-developed country and drawing sample firms from a low-tech and buyer-driven industry can be considered as another key contribution to the literature. This study also makes a contribution to the literature through the development and testing of a RIF emergence model that is applicable to all firms irrespective of their size and age. Our findings also make a notable contribution to international entrepreneurship theory by providing support that pursuing a RIF internationalisation trajectory from a least-developed country is influenced by the regulatory mechanisms (export promotion incentives) of institutions. The implications of our findings for national and enterprise development policies are also considered.

Accelerated internationalisation, Rapidly internationalising firms, Export promotion policies, Least-developed country [ view full abstract ]

Accelerated internationalisation, Rapidly internationalising firms, Export promotion policies, Least-developed country