Differences between high- and low-performing exporting firms in a developing country

This study identifies key variables that contribute most to the discrimination between firms with high export performance levels and those with low export performance levels. Data were collected through a structured multi-item questionnaire involving a randomly selected sample of 105 exporting firms. Discriminant analysis was used to identify the key discriminating variables. Exporters with high-performance levels differed significantly from those with low levels. Strategy implementation, experience in international business and training, economic factors, size of the firm, cultural factors, strategic orientation, education, and political/legal factors, listed in order of importance, were identified as key discriminators between the two types of firms.