Survival in the agri-food industry: internationalisation and manager gender in Spanish SMEs

Abstract

An analysis is presented of the survival patterns of both small and medium-sized firms in Spain, as well as the effects of the internationalisation of the firm and manager gender on firm survival. The study aims to shed some light from a gender perspective on the field of SME internationalisation and SME performance, examining the role of manager gender as a key determinant of business survival. The data comprise a sample of 5,095 agri-food SMEs. The Kaplan-Meier method is employed for a univariate analysis of survival, applying a linear regression for multivariate analysis. The results revealed that the SMEs were more likely to survive if internationalised and/or if their managers were women. The findings of this research may help provide a better understanding of the influence of manager gender on the internationalisation process of SMEs, which would assist policymakers in developing relevant and targeted export promotion policies and programmes.