Aggressive and Passive Exporters: A Study in the Brazilian Furniture Industry

The firm and chief executive officer correlates of aggressive export behaviour were examined in a random sample of 45 Brazilian wood‐furniture manufacturers. Because of the importance of earning foreign exchange to make payments on international loans, the Brazilian government has made major efforts to stimulate firms to export. This study examines whether the characteristics of aggressive exporters under such stimulation are different from those found in other environments. The results indicate that governmental intervention does not materially affect the characteristics of aggressive exporters and that the aggressive‐passive dichotomous model is, with a few exceptions, valid under export stimulation programmes in Brazil. However, it was not possible to affirm that aggressiveness was correlated with firm export performance.