Companies Export Function: Identifying the Effects of Perceived Competitive Advantages, Adapting Marketing Tactics and Exporting Experience on Export Function

Abstract

Information and communication technology (ICT) has intensively affected the quality and quantity of competition among companies in their accessibility to the markets of other countries during the last two decades. The basic question that every company working in the international markets has faced with is the factors affecting export function. This study is conducted for the purpose of answering this question. Reviewing the related literature shows that among many factors which may affect export function, adapting marketing tactics, export experience, and perceived competitive advantage are the most remarkable ones. Based on this theoretical finding, the conceptual model of the research had created and five hypotheses were tested during this study. For adopting experimental data with the conceptual model, export companies in Fars province have been studied. Findings illustrate that four out of five hypotheses of the research have approved and only the direct relationship of marketing tactics adaption with export function has not been verified. The effect of marketing tactics adoption to export function was indirect and obtained through perceived competitive advantage as an intermediary variable.

Keywords

• Export performance
• Perceived competitive advantage
• Adaptation of marketing tactics
• Exporting experience
• Structural equation modeling