AIB 2012 Conference Proceedings - Academy of International ...

TUESDAY
addition, the relation between relationship commitment and financial performance is analyzed and adopts the
social exchange variables (shared value, communication and dependence) as the moderating factors between
relationship commitment and performance to specify the situational condition. For the empirical test, 455
samples of Korean exporting manufacturing companies are used and divided into two groups based on the firm
size (small-medium sized firms and large sized firms). The empirical test result showed the significant
difference in the effect of moderators in the two groups. Only in the sample of small-medium sized firms, the
share value, communication and dependence activated as the moderators. In addition, more resource-based
variables are verified significantly on the small-medium sized firms. (For more information, please contact:
Youngmi Baek, Sogang University, Korea, South: youngmibaek@hotmail.com)
Export Orientation in the Economic Recession - An Empirical Investigation of New Zealand Wineries
Yang Yu, Victoria University of Wellington
Val Lindsay, Victoria University of Wellington
Stacey Hynes, Victoria University of Wellington
The study explores how firms' export orientations were affected in the recent economic recession. A conceptual
model is developed from the extant literature and hypotheses are tested using data from 55 wine exporters in
New Zealand. Results show that those wineries' export orientation in 2010 at the time of the research was
related positively with their past export performance prior to the 2008 financial crisis (between 2005 and 2007),
and negatively with their export performance deterioration soon after the crisis (from 2008 onwards). Equally
important, these relationships between export orientation and performance variables appear to be contingent
upon first, firms' managerial attitudes toward exporting and second, their perceived market uncertainty. Overall,
the study enriches the literature on firms' strategic reactions in economic recession from small exporters'
perspective; its findings in particular, help to understand the complexity of such reactions. (For more
information, please contact: Yang Yu, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand: yang.yu@vuw.ac.nz)
Export Propensity, Export Intensity and Firm Performance: the Role of the Entrepreneurial Founding Team
Panagiotis Ganotakis, Leeds University
James Love, Aston University
We investigate how the characteristics and experience of the entrepreneurial founding team (EFT) affect the
export orientation and subsequent performance of the businesses they establish, while allowing for the
mutually-reinforcing relationship between exporting and productivity. Using a sample of UK new technology
based firms, we find that the set of EFT human capital needed for entering export markets is quite different
from that required for succeeding in export markets. Commercial and managerial experience helps firms
become exporters, but once over the exporting hurdle it is education, both general and specific, that has a
substantially positive effect. The overall pattern of human capital effects on productivity are similar to those for
export propensity. We also find evidence that productive firms are more likely both to enter export markets and
to be export intensive, and that exporting boosts subsequent firm productivity. (For more information, please
contact: Panagiotis Ganotakis, Leeds University, United Kingdom: p.ganotakis@leeds.ac.uk)
Firms' Exporting and Importing Activities: Is There a Two-Way Relationship
Davide Castellani, University of Perugia
Chiara Franco, University of Bologna
David Aristei, University of Perugia
The literature on firm heterogeneity and trade has highlighted that most trading firms tend to engage in both
importing and exporting activities. This may be due to some common sunk costs or to a true state dependence.
This paper provides some evidence that helps sort this issue out. Using firm level data for a group of 27
Eastern European and Central Asian countries from the World Bank Business Environment and Enter- prise
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