Export Performance on the Malaysian Wooden Furniture Industry: An Empirical Study

Abstract

There has been a significant increase in the quantity and quality of international and export marketing research with respect to effective solutions toward export performance. However, an investigation on the impact of marketing strategy and export performance in a single industry is lacking. In addition, the influence of environmental factors to moderate the relationship between export marketing strategy and export performance has received little agreement. This research aims to investigate the relationship between export marketing strategy and export performance in the Malaysian wooden furniture industry as well as the influence of the moderating role of environmental factors on the relationship between export marketing strategy and export performance. Personal, mail, and phone interview methods were used to measure export marketing strategy, newly developed environmental factor variables (which consist of the global economic situation and certification), and export performance. The findings show that there is no direct relationship between export marketing strategy and export performance. Uniquely, the moderating effect of certification appears to moderate a few relationships between product and promotion adaptation, distribution strategy, design strategy, and target market specification on export performance. Managerial implications and suggestions for future research are also discussed.