South African and Singaporean exporters: Their attitudes, information sources and export problems

Steven M Burgess,Nicola Oldenboom

doi:10.4102/sajbm.v28i2.789

Steven M Burgess, Nicola Oldenboom

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4102/sajbm.v28i2.789

Copy DOI

Abstract

South Africa's emergence from years of political and regulatory trade barriers has focussed attention on South African exporters. In a replication of Elliot Krasnostein's study of 54 Singaporean exporters, the perceptions, attitudes and characteristics of a representative sample of 321 experienced South African exporters and their decision makers were investigated. Consistent with other international studies, the results suggest that managerial, organizational and environmental forces and perceptions motivate export behaviour. However, South African firms clearly are responding to unique situational factors and national export resources as well. The findings indicate that managerial leadership, supportive attitudes and extensive exporting experience are widely available in South Africa. Secondary information sources could be improved and freight costs reduced to improve South African export effectiveness.

Highlights

South Africa's emergence from years of political and regulatory trade barriers has focussed attention on South African exporters
Leaving behind years of economic sanctions and slow economic growth, the South African respondents are motivated by unique situational factors such as the need to fill excess capacity, the availability of export incentives and expansion into neighbouring countries
It appears that South African managers may benefit from increased time abroad to make contacts and overcome difficulties understanding foreign culture and business practices

Summary

Introduction

South Africa's emergence from years of political and regulatory trade barriers has focussed attention on South African exporters. The current research (1) examines these concepts and their relationships in a representative sample of South African exporters, (2) compares the findings to Elliot & Krasnostein's (1990) study of Singaporean research and development-based manufactured goods exporters, (3) provides a foundation for more focussed explorations suggested by the findings and (4) contributes to the international literature concerning exporting in developing nations. It is not the purpose of the current research to establish causal links between the various attitudes, firm characteristics and export performance or to link firms with stages in an export adoption process model

Methods

Results

Conclusion