Export Market Orientation, Interfirm Communication, Interfirm Cooperation and Export Performance

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study is to assess the role of export market orientation on interfirm communication and interfirm cooperation, and ultimately, on export performance. Drawing upon the resource-based view, cognitive structures in social psychology, and relationship marketing theory, a conceptual model is developed and relationships between the key constructs are tested empirically from a diverse sample of 242 exporting firms in Thailand. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. The findings indicate that highly export market-oriented firms engage in higher levels of communication frequency and communication quality. However, while communication quality is related to cooperation, communication frequency is not. These results have significant theoretical implications for academics of international business and marketing, as well as practical implications for exporters.JEL: L1, M1, M3KEYWORDS: Export Market Orientation, Exporters, Communication Frequency, Communication Quality, Interfirm Cooperation, Emerging Market(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)INTRODUCTIONExporting is a key activity in most economies, particularly in emerging markets. Many academics and practitioners have encouraged exporting firms to become more market oriented so as to develop the necessary organizational capabilities that can lead to better knowledge of export markets. In addition, with the emergence of the relationship marketing paradigm, relational behaviors of the exporter-importer dyad have been given a significant amount of academic attention in the past decade (e.g. Lages, Lages and Lages, 2005; Lages, Silva and Styles, 2009; Nguyen and Nguyen, 2010; Racela, Chaikittisilpa and Thoumrungroje, 2007). However, although valuable insights have been gained from such prior studies, there has been very limited attention given to relationship determinants, such as those relevant to interfirm communication.Communication has long been recognized as a relational driver in seller-buyer relationships (Griffith, 2002; Palmatier, 2008). Yet, much of the relationship marketing research literature has downgraded the role of communication to a minor component of relational behaviors. There is prior research to suggest that interfirm communication serves as a primary driver to sustaining business relationships, with empirical support found from studies conducted in manufacturer-retailer contexts (e.g. Holden and O'Toole, 2004), industrial marketing settings (e.g. Denize and Young, 2007) and business partnerships (e.g. Gray, 2005). Consideration of interfirm communication in export market ventures has only recently been posited in the international marketing literature (e.g. Oh and Moon, 2010). Thus, a deeper understanding of the communication-relationship behavior link in an exporter-importer context would be worthwhile, especially since engaging in such behaviors may involve considerable organizational resources.This paper aims to fill this void in the marketing literature by examining the role of interfirm communication and relational behaviors in the export market orientation-export performance relationship. Although the export marketing literature has identified numerous relationship constructs (e.g. Leonidou and Kaleka, 1998; Sutton-Brady, 2001), we specifically focus on examining the role of communication quality, communication frequency and the relational aspect of interftrm cooperation. Our selection of these behaviors is based on their noted significance in the existing literature, and the sparse attention they have been given in the exporter-importer business relationship. The context of this study is Thailand, an emerging market which is highly export-dependent. The country's exports account for roughly two-thirds of the nation's GDP. As a result of the global economic slowdown that began around mid-2012, Thailand's export growth from January-August 2013 reached a mere one percent, well below the target of 7. …