The Impact of Organizational Capabilities on SMEs Export Performance: Application of the Resource Based View Theory

Godwell Karedza Godwell Karedza,Krishna K Govender Krishna K Govender

doi:10.31580/ijer.v3i3.1543

Godwell Karedza Godwell Karedza, Krishna K Govender Krishna K Govender

https://doi.org/10.31580/ijer.v3i3.1543

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Abstract

The research aimed at identifying the organizational capabilities that influence the export performance of SMEs in Zimbabwe, as well as the strategies that can be adopted by SMEs to enhance their export performance. A mixed-methods study was carried out with a sample size of 345 SMEs in Harare, comprising food processing, leather products, and textiles and four (4) policy advocates and four (4) export business analysts. Questionnaires were directed at the SME owner-managers and an interview guide was used to collect qualitative data. The results reveal that, although distinctive capabilities play a pivotal role in enhancing the export performance of SMEs; its impact on Zimbabwean manufacturing SMEs is not significant. The findings are envisaged to provide insights on how SMEs in Zimbabwe can embrace organisational capabilities to enhance export performance.

Highlights

The Zimbabwe economy depends mainly on exports of processed food, in those from SMEs, as they (SMEs) dominate most industries in the country (RBZ, 2015)
Most (68.7%) of the SMEs exported to regional markets, which highlight that most of the SME‟s products are most probably being exported to regional markets in the SADC region
The results indicate that the majority of the participants do not have marketing resources to successfully undertake marketing activities and as such, the ability to influence customers towards liking their products is subdued and this is seen as contributing to the export performance of SMEs

Summary

Introduction

The Zimbabwe economy depends mainly on exports of processed food, in those from SMEs, as they (SMEs) dominate most industries in the country (RBZ, 2015). The aforementioned further state that, to facilitate this, firms need to develop comprehensive methods of gathering information related to the status of global markets, a view strongly supported by Ghauri, Tarnovskaya, Elg & Wang (2011).The above further states that, firms which are equipped with market information are able to anticipate the future needs of the customer and respond better and faster than their competitors In line with this argument, some researchers (Brondon 2007; Sciarelli 2008) asserted that SMEs should develop an “outside-in” thinking process that which entails scanning the marketing environment to implement strategies that suit the changing environmental conditions and deliver superior value to the customers, being market-driven

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