Export stimulation of micro- and small locally owned firms from emerging environments: New evidence

Abstract

This paper reports the findings from an empirical investigation into the export stimulation behaviour of micro- and small locally owned firms. It investigates whether the decision to initiate exporting in these smaller firms is a result of a systematic planned investigation into foreign market opportunities or is a mere response to fortuitous circumstances. This issue has received extensive attention in the literature on the internationalisation of firms from large developed environments, but very little is known about it in emerging environments especially small, open economies. This study will add to the literature by investigating export stimulation from a small, emerging Caribbean economy, Jamaica. Using a quantitative approach supported by insights from qualitative data gained during the fieldwork, the study analysed 20 stimuli that are demonstrated to impact export initiation decision. The key finding reveals that export initiation is a result of a planned systematic approach to international market rather than a mere response to fortuitous circumstances. The originality of this finding is in its extension of earlier work from developed economies to an emerging, resource-poor, open economy and its departure from analysing large and multinational firms to focus on micro- and small locally owned firms.