How to use your social capital to thrive in export markets Identifying the dynamic capabilities developed through social capital by top exporters

Abstract

Competing in international markets poses considerable challenges to companies and calls for special capabilities. The present study aims to identify dynamic organisational capabilities developed by external social capital that are, in turn, necessary for achieving success in export markets. Semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis have been utilised to collect and analyse data, respectively. 16 high-level and export marketing managers of top export companies operating in Isfahan province, Iran, have been purposefully selected based on data saturation in order to participate in the research. The findings indicate that participants rely more on their business networks to develop dynamic capabilities. Moreover, thematic analysis has resulted in the extraction of 28 components in relation to dynamic capabilities which are categorised into five sub-themes. The identified sub-themes include export market exploration and exploitation, dynamic research and development, export entrepreneurial orientation and manufacturing flexibility. The sub-themes have been classified into two broad themes comprising explorative and exploitative dynamic capabilities.