Figure 1
The flowchart begins with the peripheral export ecosystem involving 23 firms in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, representing a mixed-sector sample. This leads to an analysis of the firm's strategy, technology, management, internal coherence, and adaptation. The next step involves a hierarchical exporter classifier that applies labels such as Zebra, Elephant, Leopard, Bee, Camel, and Squirrel sequentially. The observed exporter species are then identified, which include Squirrel, Elephant, Camel, Leopard, Zebra, and Bee, with the note that Bee is not assigned as a final standalone type. The final step explains what the typology reveals, indicating that upgrading over time and stronger physiology corresponds to stronger international marketing capability, and different routes to foreign-market action under common peripheral constraint.From peripheral constraint to exporter form: the study's theoretical and empirical logic. Note. Animal labels serve as heuristic devices for recurring exporter forms and do not constitute the theory