The Effect of the Environment on Export Performance among Telecommunications New Ventures

Abstract

The importance of exports for achieving business growth and superior financial performance is widely recognized in the literature. Consequently, researchers have sought to identify the variables that influence a company's export performance. Accumulated research findings highlight a need to document the effect of the domestic competitive environment on a firm's export performance. Adopting a multidimensional view of export performance, this study of 121 U.S. telecommunication new ventures concludes that dynamism, hostility, and heterogeneity in a firm's domestic environment are significantly associated with higher export performance. Further, while a venture's age, formal export planning, and technological sophistication are conducive to high export performance, the impact of the venture's size and past financial performance on export performance are insignificant.